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The pilgrimage
of Arculfus in
the Holy Land
Saint Adamnan
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LIBRARY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
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PILGRIMAGE OF ARCULFUS
IN THE
HOLY LAND.
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Palestine pilgrims' Htxt gocietg.
. X
THE
PILGRIMAGE OF ARCULFUS
IN THE
HOLY LAND,
(About the Year A.D. 670).
Uranalattb anb &nnotaUb
BY THE
REV. JAMES ROSE MACPHERSON, B.D.
LONDON:
i, ADAM STREET, ADELPHI.
1889.
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A Lb
DS
joe
.PI
v. 3
1889
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CONTENTS.
PACK
PREFACE
XI
- xix
LIST OF MANUSCRIPTS
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT 1
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY
ADAMNAN.
BOOK I.
INTRODUCTION ------
I. THE SITUATION OF JERUSALEM, THE GATES OF THE
CITY, THE YEARLY MARKET, THE SITE OF THE TEMPLE,
THE ORATORY OF THE SARACENS, THE GREAT HOUSES
Hi THE ROUND CHURCH BUILT ABOVE THE SEPULCHRE OF
THE LORD
III. THE FORM OF THE SEPULCHRE ITSELF AND ITS LITTLE
CABIN - ' -
IV. THE STONE THAT WAS ROLLEIfc TO THE MOUTH OF THE
TOMB, WHICH THE ANGEL OF THE LORD, DESCENDING
FROM HEAVEN AFTER HIS RESURRECTION, ROLLED
BACK; THE CHAPEL, AND THE SEPULCHRE -
V. THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY, WHICH ADJOINS THE ROUND
CHURCH ------
VI. THE CHURCH THAT IS BUILT ON THE SITE OF CALVARY
VII. THE BASILICA WHICH CONSTANTINE BUILT CLOSE TO
THE ABOVE-NAMED CHURCH ON THE SPOT WHERE
THE CROSS OF THE LORD, WHICH HAD BEEN BURIED
IN RUINS, WAS FOUND, WHEN AFTER MANY CENTURIES
THE EARTH WAS DUG UP
VIII. THE SITE OF THE ALTAR OF ABRAHAM
5
6
8
9
9
CHAPTER
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vi
CONTENTS.
CHAKTEK
PACK
IX. THE RECESS SITUATED BETWEEN THE CHURCH OF CAL-
VARY AND THE BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE, IN WHICH
ARE KEPT THE CUP OF THE LORD AND THE SPONGE
FROM WHICH, AS HE HUNG ON THE TREE, HE DRANK
VINEGAR AND WINE -
X. THE SPEAR OF THE SOLDIER WITH WHICH HE PIERCED
THE. SIDE OF THE LORD -
XI. THE NAPKIN WITH WHICH THE HEAD OF THE LORD
WAS COVERED IN THE SEPULCHRE -
XII. ANOTHER SACRED LINEN CLOTH WHICH, AS IS SAID,
ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, THE MOTHER OF THE LORD,
WOVE ------
XIII. THE LOFTY COLUMN SITUATED ON THE SPOT WHERE A
DEAD YOUNG MAN CAME TO LIFE AGAIN, WHEN THE
CROSS OF THE LORD WAS PLACED ON HIM ; AND THE
MIDDLE OF THE WORLD -
XIV. THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY BUILT IN THE VALLEY OF
JOSAPHAT, IN WHICH IS HER TOMB
XV. THE TOWER OF JOSAPHAT BUILT IN THE SAME VALLEY -
XVI. THE TOMBS OF SIMEON AND JOSEPH -
XVII. THE CAVE IN THE ROCK OF THE MOUNT OF OLIVET,
ACROSS THE VALLEY OF JOSAPHAT, IN WHICH ARE
FOUR TABLES AND TWO WELLS
XVIIL THE GATE OF DAVID, AND THE PLACE WHERE JUDAS
ISCARIOTH HANGED HIMSELF BY A ROPE
XIX. THE FORM OF THE GREAT BASILICA BUILT ON MOUNT
SION, AND THE SITUATION OF THAT MOUNTAIN -
XX. THE LITTLE FIELD CALLED IN HEBREW AKELDEMAC -
XXI. THE ROUGH AND ROCKY GROUND THAT EXTENDS FAR
AND WIDE, FROM JERUSALEM TO THE CITY OF
SAMUEL, AND TO CfiSAREA OF PALESTINE TOWARDS
THE WEST ------
XXIL THE MOUNT OF OLIVET, ITS HEIGHT AND THE
CHARACTER OF ITS SOIL - - - -
XXIII. THE PLACE OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD, AND
THE CHURCH BUILT ON IT -
XXIV. THE SEPULCHRE OF LAZARUS AND THE CHURCH BUILT
ABOVE IT, AND THE ADJOINING MONASTERY
XXV. ANOTHER CHURCH BUILT TO THE RIGHT OF BETHANY
II
12
12
16
16
17
18
18
18
19
20
21
21
21
22
26
26
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vii
BOOK II.
CHAPTER
PAGB
I. THE SITUATION OF BETHLEHEM
- 28
II. THE PLACE OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD, THE
CHURCH OF ST. MARY - - - - 28
III. THE ROCK SITUATED BEYOND THE WALL, UPON
WHICH THE WATER, IN WHICH HE WAS FIRST
WASHED AFTER HIS BIRTH, WAS POURED- - 29
IV. ANOTHER CHURCH, IN WHICH THE TOMB OF DAVID
IS SEEN - - - - - - 30
V. THE CHURCH WITHIN WHICH IS THE SEPULCHRE
OF ST. HIERONYMUS (JEROME) - - - 30
VI. THE TOMBS OF THE THREE SHEPHERDS, AROUND
WHOM, WHEN THE LORD WAS BORN, THE HEAVENLY
BRIGHTNESS SHONE; AND THEIR CHURCH - 30
VIL THE SEPULCHRE OF RACHEL- - - 31
VIII. HEBRON - - - - - - 31
IX. THE VALLEY OF MAMBRE, AND THE SEPULCHRE OF
THE FOUR PATRIARCHS - - - - 32
X. THE HILL AND THE OAK OF MAMBRE - - 33
XI. THE PINE-FOREST FROM WHICH FIREWOOD IS BROUGHT
TO JERUSALEM ON CAMELS - - "34
XII. JERICHO - - - - - - 35
XIII. GALGAL, AND THE TWELVE STONES WHICH THE
CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, AFTER CROSSING THE RIVER
JORDAN, TOOK FROM ITS DRIED CHANNEL - 35
XIV. THE PLACE WHERE OUR LORD WAS BAPTIZED BY
JOHN - - - - - 36
XV. THE COLOUR OF THE JORDAN AND THE DEAD SEA- 38
XVI. THE DEAD SEA — CONTINUED- - - - 39
XVII. THE FOUNTAINS OF THE JORDAN - - - 39
XVIII. THE SEA OF GALILEE - - - 40
XIX. SICHEM AND THE WELL OF SAMARIA - - 41
XX. A LITTLE FOUNTAIN IN THE WILDERNESS - - 43
XXL THE LOCUSTS AND THE WILD HONEY - - 43
XXII. THE PLACE WHERE THE LORD BLESSED THE FIVE
LOAVES AND THE TWO FISHES - - "43
XXIII. THE SEA OF TIBERIAS AND CAPHARNAUM - - 44
viii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGS
XXIV. NAZARETH AND ITS CHURCHES - - "45
XXV. MOUNT TABOR - - - - - 46
XXVI. DAMASCUS - - - - - 47
XXVII. TYRE- - - - - - " 47
XXVIII. ALEXANDRIA, AND THE RIVER NILE AND ITS CROCO-
DILES - - - - - - 48
BOOK III.
I. THE CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE - - - - 53
II. THE FOUNDATION OF THAT CITY - - "53
III. THE CHURCH IN WHICH THE CROSS OF THE LORD IS
PRESERVED - - - - - - 55.
IV. ST. GEORGE THE CONFESSOR - - - - 57
V. THE PICTURE OF ST. MARY - - - - 62
VI. MOUNT VULCAN - - - - - - 63
VII. EPILOGUE - - - - - - 64
THE VENERABLE BEDE CONCERNING
THE HOLY PLACES.
( The numbers in parentheses show the corresponding chapters of Arculfus.)
CHAPTER PAGE
I. (BOOK I., CHAP. I.) THE SITUATION OF JERUSALEM - 67
II. (CHAP. VII., VI., II., III., IV., V., VIII., X.) THE CHURCH OF
CONSTANTINE AND OF GOLGOTHA, THE CHURCH OF
THE RESURRECTION AND THE SEPULCHRE OF THE LORD,
THE STONE THAT WAS ROLLED TO THE MOUTH OF
THE TOMB, THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY, THE CUP OF
THE LORD AND THE SPONGE, THE ALTAR OF ABRA-
HAM, THE SOLDIER'S SPEAR - - - - 68
III. (I., XIX., XXIII.) THE TEMPLE, THE ORATORY OF THE
SARACENS, THE POOL OF BETHESDA, THE FOUNTAIN
OF SILOA, THE CHURCH BUILT UPON MOUNT SION,
THE PLACE QF THE STONING OF ST. STEPHEN, THE
MIDDLE OF THE WORLD - ... - 70
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CHAPTER PAGE
IV. (XL, XII.) THE NAPKIN OF THE HEAD OF THE LORD, AND
ANOTHER LARGER LINEN CLOTH WOVEN BY ST. MARY *J2
V. (XXL, XV., XVI., XIV.) THE PLACES ROUND JERUSALEM,
THE VALLEY OF JOSAPHAT, HIS SEPULCHRE AND
THOSE OF OTHERS, THE CHURCH IN WHICH ST. MARY
WAS BURIED - - - - - " 73
VI. (XVIII., XX.) THE PLACE WHERE JUDAS WAS HANGED,
AND ACHELDEMAC - - - - "74
VII. (XXII., XXIII., XXIV., XXV.) THE MOUNT OF OLIVET AND
THE CHURCH BUILT THERE, WHERE THE LORD
ASCENDED INTO THE HEAVENS — THE TOMB OF
LAZARUS, AND A THIRD CHURCH - - "74
viii. (BOOK II., chap, i., il, in., iv. v., vi., vii.) the
SITUATION OF BETHLEHEM, THE CHURCH UPON THE
PLACE WHERE THE LORD WAS BORN, THE SEPULCHRES
OF DAVID AND HIERONYMUS AND THE THREE SHEP-
HERDS, AND ALSO THAT OF RACHEL - - J 6
IX. (VIII., IX., X., XI.) THE SITUATION OF HEBRON, MAMBRE,
AND THE TOMB OF THE PATRIARCHS AND OF ADAM,
THE PINE WOOD - - - - - 77
X. (XII., XIII.) JERICHO AND ITS HOLY PLACES, GALGAL
AND THE FOUNTAIN OF HELISEUS, THE GREAT
PLAIN - - - - * 77
XI. (XV., XVII., XVIII.) THE JORDAN AND THE SEA OF
GALILEE - - - - - - 79
XIL (XV., XVI.) THE DEAD SEA AND ITS NATURE, AND
THAT OF THE NEIGHBOURING DISTRICT - - 8o
XIII. (XIV.) THE PLACE WHERE THE LORD WAS BAPTIZED - 82
XIV. (XXL, XX.) THE LOCUSTS AND THE WILD HONEY, AND
THE FOUNTAIN OF JOHN THE BAPTIST - - 82
XV. (XIX.) THE FOUNTAIN OF JACOB NEAR SICHEM - 83
XVI. (XXIL, XVIII., XXIII., XXIV.) TIBERIAS AND CAPHARNAUM
AND NAZARETH AND THE HOLY PLACES THERE - 83
XVII. (XXV.) MOUNT TABOR AND THE THREE CHURCHES ON IT 84
XVIII. (XXVI.) THE SITUATION OF DAMASCUS - - 84
XIX. (XXVIII.) THE SITUATION OF ALEXANDRIA, THE CHURCH
IN WHICH MARK THE EVANGELIST RESTS, AND THE
NILE ' - 84
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X
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PACE
XX. (BOOK HI., CHAP. I.) CONSTANTINOPLE, AND THE
BASILICA IN THAT CITY WHICH CONTAINS THE CROSS
OF THE LORD - - - - -85
XXI. EPILOGUE - - - - - - 87
APPENDIX.
TRANSLATION OF PORTIONS OF 4 ARCULF's NARRATIVE,' FROM
PROFESSOR WILLIS' * HOLY SEPULCHRE* - - - 88
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PREFACE.
NOTHING appears to be known of Arculfus, the pilgrini of
whose travels this work is a narrative, beyond the very
slight notices of him contained in the work itself and in a
reference to it by the Venerable Bede in his 'Ecclesiastical
History.' From these we learn that he was a native of
France (Gaul), and that at the time when he undertook the
journey referred to he had attained the rank of Bishop;
but we have no information at -all as to the see over which
he presided. It is stated by Bede that his bishopric was
in France, and, although this might be a mere supposition
grounded on the references in the record itself, we need
not hesitate to accept it as being correct. His pilgrimage
to the East was undertaken about the year a.d. 670, accord-
ing to the calculation of Dr. Tobler (Soctet^ de TOrient
Latin), and it must have occupied some time. He spent
nine months in the city of Jerusalem (possibly during that
period he may have made shorter visits to the south or
the north of Palestine), and he gives us an account of the
chief places of interest to the west of the Jordan, including
in the south, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho, Galgal, and
the Dead Sea, — and in the north, Sichem, Mount Tabor,
Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, and the sources of the Jordan.
After extending his travels as far as Tyre and Damascus,
xii
PREFACE.
and returning to Jerusalem, he sailed from Joppa to
Alexandria, taking forty days to accomplish the voyage.
From Egypt he passed to Crete, spending some days there,
and thence to Constantinople, where he stayed for some
months— from Easter to Christmas. On his voyage home-
wards he visited Sicily and proceeded to Rome. Here,
however, his good fortune ceased, as the ship in which he
had hoped to reach his home after leaving Rome was
caught in a violent storm, which drove it so completely out
of its course that it was cast on one of the western points
of Scotland, and we find Arculf 'at length, after many
dangers/ at Iona, the guest of Adamnan, the Abbot of the
Monastery of Hy, who, according to Bede's narrative
(book v., cap. 15), 'found him to be learned in the
Scriptures, and acquainted with the Holy Places, so that he
received him most willingly, and heard him more willingly ;
so much so that he himself caused to be at once committed to
writing whatever he testified to be worthy of mention of all
that he had seen in the Holy Places.' Adamnan, in his own
narrative, represents himself as sedulously asking Arculf to
tell him his experiences, and writing them down at once,
as they were dictated, on waxed tablets, from which he
afterwards compiled this work, with such additional infor-
mation as he thought it advisable to insert from the works
of other writers with which he was acquainted, and with
the omission of a good deal of matter which was already
sufficiently well known from those other works. Arculf
had, in part of his travels, been accompanied by a Burgun-
dian monk, whom he calls Peter, who acted as his guid^,
and of whose haste he at times complains. Peter, according
to one MS. (Codex Caduinensis), had been for a long time
in exile for the Lord's sake : he was well acquainted with
the Holy Places in Palestine, and he is represented as living
in a • solitary place/ which he was apparently desirous of
PREFACE.
xiii
returning to more hurriedly than accorded with the wishes
of his companion.
It would be out of place to enter here on any general
details as to the life and position of. Adamnan, who is the
actual writer of this work. A native of Ireland (probably
of Donegal), where he was born in 624, belonging to a noble
family, he is first known to us as entering the brotherhood
of Iona, probably during the abbacy of Seghine, fifth
abbot, 623-652. Here, during several years, he so com-
mended himself to his brethren by his character and his
learning, that on the death of Failbhe, eighth abbot, in 679,
he was elected his successor. He had at some time or
other, whether in Ireland or in Iona, been brought in
contact with Aldfrid, the exiled prince of Northumbria,
who is spoken of in the Irish legends as the 1 alumnus ' of
Adamnan. Whatever this relationship may have actually
been, it led Adamnan, on the restoration of Aldfrid in 685,
to undertake an embassy to his court, with a view (appar-
ently) to plead the cause of some Irish captives. It is in
his account of this visit to Aldfrid that the Venerable Bede
introduces his reference to this work: 'This same man
wrote a book about the Holy Places, which is most useful
to many readers; its real author, by instruction and by
dictation, was Arculfus, a French Bishop (Galliarum
Episcopus), who for the sake of the Holy Places had gone
to Jerusalem, and having passed over all the Land of
Promise, visited also Damascus, Constantinople, Alexandria,
and many islands of the sea ; and as he was returning to
his native land by sea, he was carried by the violence of a
tempest to the western shores of Britain : and after many
[dangers], he came to that servant of Christ, who has been
mentioned, Adamnan, who found him to be learned in the
Scriptures, and acquainted with the Holy Places, so that he
received him most willingly, and heard him more willingly ;
xiv
PREFACE.
so much so that he himself caused to be at once committed
to writing whatever he testified to be worthy of mention
of all that he had seen in the Holy Places. And he made
a work, as I have said, which is of much use, and specially
so to those who are so far distant from those places in
which the patriarchs and the apostles lived that they can
learn as to them only what they can inform themselves
about by reading. Now, Adamnan brought this book to
King Aldfrid, and by his liberality it was read by men of
humbler station. The writer also was himself presented
by him with many gifts, and sent back to his country*
('Eccles. Hist./ book v., cap. 15). The presentation of the
work to Aldfrid is postponed by Dr. Reeves to a second
journey made by Adamnan in 688, when he stayed for
some time in Northumbria.
— v>The work, ' De Locis Sanctis / thus written by Adamnan,
is divided into three books ; the first two of which are of
about the same length, the third much shorter. The First
Book opens with a description of the city of Jerusalem,
and proceeds to describe the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
and the neighbouring buildings, the description being of
the greatest importance, as showing the actual position (at
least, as understood by the writer) at a period separated
from that of Antoninus Martyr, the next preceding pilgrim
whose narrative is in our possession, by the Persian invasion
under Chosroes II., when the city was all but ruined, and
by that of the Arabs under the Caliph Omar. It has not
been found to be practicable to insert in this volume a
satisfactory note on these details as recorded from Arculf's
account, but this will follow later. The narrative is inter-
rupted by a long, and to the modern mind most useless,
chapter as to the napkin that covered the head of the Lord
in the sepulchre, and it is followed in this book by an
account of the sites in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the
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xv
Mount of Olives, and Bethany. The Second Jiook opens
with Southern Palestine, represented by Bethlehem and
Hebron, with the places of interest in their neighbourhood ;
it then brings us again northward to Jericho, the Dead Sea,
and the different Holy Places on and near the Jordan ;
thence it passes somewhat erratically over Shechem, Mount
Tabor, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, the sources of the
Jordan, and closes with allusions to Damascus and Tyre,
and a longer description of Alexandria, with its harbour.
The Third Book describes Constantinople, relates some
marvellous incidents in connection with St. George the
Confessor, and, after a reference to Mount Vulcan, closes
with an Epilogue.
The work appears to have attained very considerable
acceptance over Europe. Disfigured as it is to our minds,
no less by the insertion of much that is now regarded as
simply rubbish, than by the omission of so much that we
should have greatly welcomed, the numerous copies of it
scattered over the Continent show the esteem in which it
was held. The Venerable Bede prepared an abbreviation
of it, which is also translated in this volume, and of which
he inserted some portions in his history. In addition to
the MSS. used by Dr. Tobler for his edition of the work,
copies are found at the monastery of S. Germanus a Pratis
(eighth century, probably the Corbey MS. used by Mabillon
for his edition), at Berne (tenth century), at Rheinau
(eleventh century), and at Salzburg (ninth or tenth cen-
tury) (Reeves, pp. 8, 58). The first printed edition was
published by Gretser, at Ingoldstadt, in 16 19, from a MS.
sent to him by Father Rosweyd 'ex intima Holandia'
(Proleg., p. 22). The text was again published, at Venice,
in 1734, from better manuscripts, by Mabillon (Actt. SS.
Ord. Bened., saec. iii., part 2).
A certain special interest would attach to this work, as
xvi
PREFACE.
the undoubted composition of a prior of the Scotic
monastery of Iona, and some information might be gathered
from it as to the exact belief of the Celtic Church on certain
questions, were it not that Adamnan labours under the
disadvantage for this purpose of having so strenuously
endeavoured to introduce the Roman usages into that
Church. The tract must have been written before the
second visit to King Aldfrid, during which his discussions
with Ceolfrid, Abbot of Jarrow, as to Easter and the
tonsure, resulted in his adoption of the Roman usage ; but
it seems scarcely possible to use it in this connection,
although one who has studied the question closely migh
be able to make some interesting deductions as to the
customs of the Celtic Church.
Dr. Reeves, the editor of Adamnan's other work, * The
Life of St. Columba ' (published for the Irish Archaeological
and Celtic Society, Dublin, 1857; republished, with a trans-
lation, in the series of 'The Historians of Scotland,'
Edinburgh, Edmonston and Douglas, 1874; the references
are to the former edition), says (p. lxi.) that ' Of Adamnan's
two Latin works, the tract * De Locis Sanctis ' is the better
written and more flowing ; but it bears a striking re-
semblance to the other in many particulars of style, and
the use of peculiar words and phrases.' As to the latter,
one has only, after studying the Latin text of the present
work, to turn to the Glossary provided by Dr. Reeves, in
order to realize how similar the vocabulary of the two
works is. [I have to express my indebtedness to this
Glossary for aid in one or two cases, such as the peculiar
use of 1 pyramis,' pp. 30, 31.] But if this work is really the
better written and more flowing of the two, one may
express one's condolence with Dr. Reeves in the difficulty
of the task he undertook, for even in this tract there are
several passages in which the author's meaning is scarcely
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PREFACE.
xvii
distinguishable, and where all one can do is to make what
seems to be the best guess at the translation. This has
been specially the case in the chapter dealing with Alex-
andria ; and a very distinguished friend, whose assistance
was asked as to another passage, p. 37, characterizes the
connection of the words as passing all human comprehen-
sion. Among the marked peculiarities that one at once
recognises with Dr. Reeves, are 'the liberal employment
of diminutives, so characteristic of Irish composition, used
without any grammatical force, and commutable, in the
same chapters, with their primitives 4 the use of frequent-
atives and intensitives the occasional use of Greek or
Greco- Latin words ; ' above all, the artificial, and often
unnatural, interweaving of his words in long sentences, and
the oft-recurring ablative absolute in awkward position*
(Reeves, p. lxi.).
Reference has been made already to the abbreviation of
Adamnan's narrative made by the Venerable Bede, and a
translation of this work is also included in this volume.
Nothing need be said as to its author, and it is useless to
ask .whether there can have been any connection at all
between him and Adamnan. He professes to have done
nothing more than ' follow trustworthy histories, and espe-
cially that of Arculf, a Bishop of Gaul ' (p. 87). He has
not in any way felt bound to follow the order of the former
work, but has at times shown considerable ingenuity in
passing from page to page. He traverses practically the
whole range of that narrative, but in about one-third of
the space.
Bede, after referring to the work of Adamnan in the
passage already quoted, devotes two chapters of his
'Ecclesiastical History' (book v., 16, 17) to extracts from
this work of his own in which he has abbreviated the
longer narrative. It seems to have been generally assumed
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xviii
PREFACE.
that the extracts are from the larger work, and Bede has
used words in introducing them that certainly favour the
idea and might mislead writers ; but they are taken almost
word for word from the shorter tract, and differ altogether
both in form and in language from the former text. They
consist of the following passages: cap. viii., § I, except
the last sentence; cap. ii., § I ; cap. vii., § I ; cap. ix., except
the last sentence. The misapprehension as to the exact
source has been shared by Dr. Reeves in both editions of
his 'Life of St. Columba,' and also in his article on
'Adaranan' in Dr. Smith's 'Dictionary of Christian
Biography ' (vol. i., p. 42), as well as Mr. Deedes in his
article on 'Arculf in that Dictionary (vol. i. t p. 154)
The tract has apparently been at times known as * Libellus
de Situ Jerusalem, sive de Locis Sanctis/ and is referred to
only under the former part of this title by the Bishop of
Oxford, in his notice of 1 Bede ' in the same work (vol i.,
P- 303), but there is no reason for regarding this otherwise
than as a mistake.
The translation has been made as literal as possible in
passages where the exact rendering was of any contro-
versial or archaeological importance, as in the description
of sites and buildings; but in some other cases greater
freedom has been used. There has been inserted as an
Appendix, at the suggestion of Sir Charles W. Wilson, the
rendering of some passages as given in Professor Willis'
' Holy Sepulchre.' Sir Charles Wilson has also contributed
some notes of special value, besides making several im-
portant suggestions as to the translation.
The text used is that of the Socidt£ de l'Orient Latin,
(Itinera et Descriptions Terrae Sanctae Lingua Latina,
Saec. IV.-XI. Exarata, sumptibus Societatis Illustrandis
Orientis Latini Monumentis, edidit T. Tobler, Geneva, 1877,
i., pp. 139-240). The variations of the different MSS. have
Digitized by
PREFACE.
xix
been noted when the sense was in any way affected, and
the readings of the Codex Caduinensis have been specially
noted. That MS. of the twelfth century gives a greatly
abbreviated text, with a few interesting additions. These
additions are always given, but the notice of the omissions
would have involved the preparation of a separate trans-
lation, which would have been without any gain. Tobler
has in a similar way appended to the text of Bede the
somewhat shorter text of the Codex Wirziburgensis, a
MS. of the ninth century, but in this case there are no such
additions to note.
The following are the MSS. used by Tobler:
ARCULFUS DE LOCIS SANCTIS.
L. British Museum, Cotton. Tib. D.V., folio, viii.-ix. cent.
B. Public Library of Brussels, 292, small quarto, ix. cent.
Bern. Library of the City of Berne, 582, quarto, ix. cent.
P. National Library, Paris, Lat. 1 3048, ix. cent.
P. National Library of Paris, Lat. 12943, xi « cent.
G. Abbey of St. Gall, 320, small octavo, xii. cent.
C. Abbey of Caduinum, smallest folio, xii. cent.
V. Vatican Library, 636, A, folio, xiii. cent.
R.. Library of Queen Christina (Rome), 618, xv. cent.
BEDA VENERABILIS DE LOCIS SANCTIS.
Ma. Public Royal Library of Monaco, 6389, quarto, ix. cent.
W. Library of the University of Wirtzburg, Mp. Th.
f. 74, folio, ix. cent.
Med. Ambrosian Library of Milan, x. cent.
Pa. National Library of Paris, Lat. 2321, x. cent.
Mb. Public Royal Library of Monaco, 13002, larger folio,
xii. cent.
Pb. National Library of Paris, Lat. 14797, xii. cent.
XX
PREFACE.
L. British Museum, Cotton. Faust A., vii., quarto,
xii.-xiii. cent.
O. Lincoln's College, Oxford, 96, xiii. cent.
Pc. National ^Library of Paris, Lat 12277, xv. cent.
References to Antoninus Martyr, the Bordeaux Pilgrim, the Abbot
Daniel, etc, are to the translations already published by this Society.
References to Dr. Reeves' works are to the edition of the ' Life of
St. Columba' published at the University Press, Dublin, for the Irish
Archaeological and Celtic Society, 1857.
J. R. M.
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ARCULFS NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN.
INTRODUCTION.
In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit, I am about to write a book concerning the Holy
Places.
Arculf, a holy bishop, a Gaul by nation, well acquainted
with many far distant lands, a truthful and right worthy
witness, 1 who dwelt in the city of Jerusalem for a space of
nine months, and examined the Holy Places by daily visits,
told me, Adamnan, all that is hereafter to be written, as I
sedulously asked him to tell me his experiences, which at
first I wrote down on tablets as he dictated in a faithful
and unimpeachable narrative, and now briefly inscribe upon
parchment [membranes]. 8
1 4 Judge,' B. % P. 12943, C.
1 'This record is an important item in the history of writing, as
showing the collateral and respective uses among the Irish of waxed
tablets and membranes for literary purposes, towards the close of the
seventh century' (Reeves, p. lviii.). Compare, pp. 5, 8; also, 'I
noted down a brief but faithful abridgment of it in my tablets, which
I will now endeavour to commit succinctly to my parchment' (Orderic,
quoted by Dean Church, 'St. Anselm,' 1888, p. 55). In the first
sentence, the word used for ' write ' means literally ' scratch,' denoting
the action of the stylus in wax.
2
ARCULF 9 S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
BOOK I.
I.— The Situation of Jerusalem, the Gates of
the City, the Yearly Market, the Site of the
Temple, the Oratory of the Saracens, the
Great Houses.
As to the situation of Jerusalem, we shall now write a
few of the details that the sainted Arculf dictated to me,
Adamnan ; but what is found in the books of others as to
the position of that city, we shall pass over. In the great
circuit of its walls, Arculf counted eighty-four towers an<f
twice three gates, which are placed in the following ordei
in the circuit of the city : The Gate of David, on the west
side of Mount Sion, is reckoned first ; second, the Gate of
the Place of the Fuller 1 ; third, the Gate of St. Stephen ; \
1 The reading of C. in this passage is : ' Second, the Gate of the |
Fuller's Road ; third, the Gate of St. Stephen, where he was stoned ;
fourth, the Gate of Benjamin ; fifth, a small gate, where one hastens
down by steps to the Valley of Josaphat ; sixth, the Gate Thecuitis.'
As to the position of these gates, see ' The City of Jerusalem/ p. 4.
I. The Gate of David must have been close to the present Jaffa Gate.
Somewhat to the north of it, a wall was built across the northern brow
of Mount Sion to the edge of the cliff overhanging the causeway at.
Wilson's Arch (cf. Bord. Pil., p. 59). There was no gate in this wall, or
in the wall leading northwards from it. II. The ' Gate of the Place of
the Fuller ' must have been to the west of the Damascus Gate ; 1 its name
" Porta Villae [Viae C] Fullonis " being so named from "the Highway
of the Fuller's Field " (Isaiah vii. 3). Villa is used in the sense of " field "
by the Bordeaux Pilgrim, "ubi posit us est Joseph in villa quam dedit
ei Jacob " (p. 18). It also means 41 farm," " country house," or M place,"
as in the "Villa Pampati," "Villa Job," etc., of the Bordeaux Pilgrim ;
and the "Villa Publica" or "Place of Assembly" in the Campus
Martius' [C. W. W.]. It is the * Postern of St. Lazarus' of the
Crusaders. III. The 'Gate of St. Stephen* is the present Damascus
Digitized by
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN.
3
fourth, the Gate of Benjamin ; fifth, a portlet, that is a
little gate, by which is the descent by steps to the Valley
of Josaphat; sixth, the Gate Thecuitis.
This then is the order round the intervals between those
gates and towers : from the above-mentioned gate of
David it turns towards the northern part of the circuit,
and thence towards the east. But although six gates are
counted in the walls, yet of those the entries of three
gates are more commonly frequented ; one to the west,
another to the north, a third to the east ; while that
part of the walls with its interposed towers, which extends
from the above-mentioned Gate of David across the
northern brow of Mount Sion 1 (which overhangs the city
from the south), as far as the face of that mountain which
looks eastwards, where the rock is precipitous, is proved to
have no gates.
But this too, it seems to me, should not be passed over,
which the sainted Arculf, formerly spoken of, told us as to
the honour of that city in Christ : On the fifteenth day of the
month of September yearly, an almost countless multitude
of various nations is in the habit of gathering from all sides
to Jerusalem for the purposes of commerce by mutual sale
and purchase. Whence it necessarily happens that crowds
of various nations stay in that hospitable city for some
days, while the very great number of their camels and
Gate, see Abbot Daniel, Appendix I. IV. The Gate of Benjamin is
the Bab ez Zahrah, or Herod's Gate, east of the Damascus Gate (now
closed). V. This Postern must have been near the Golden Gate
(closed) ; it is alluded to by Antoninus, p. 14. VI. The Gate Thecuitis,
by which is probably meant the Gate of Tekoa (the 'Thecua' of St.
Paula, p. 10, now Khurbet Tekua), is now the Bab el Magharibeh, or
the Dung Gate, on the south- wall towards the east The names of
the gates have varied very greatly, an.d have been to a considerable
extent interchanged at different periods.
1 On the position of Sion, as accepted in the fourth and following
centuries, see Bord. Pil., Appendix IV., pp. 56-62.
2
4 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
horses and asses, not to speak of mules and oxen, for their
varied 1 baggage, strews the streets of the city here and
there with the abominations of their excrements: the
v smell of which brings no ordinary nuisance to the citizens
and even makes walking difficult. Wonderful to say,
on the night after the above-mentioned day of departure
with the various beasts of burden of the crowds, an*
immense abundance of rain falls from the clouds on that
city, which washes all the abominable filths from the
streets, and cleanses it from the uncleannesses. For the
very situation of Jerusalem, beginning from the northern
brow of Mount Sion, has been so disposed by its Founder,
God, on a lofty 2 declivity, sloping down to the lower
ground of the northern and eastern walls that that over-
abundance of rain cannot settle at all in the streets, like
stagnant water, but rushes down, like rivers, from the
higher to the lower ground : and further this inundation of
the waters of heaven, flowing through the eastern gates,
and bearing with it all the filthy abominations, enters the
Valley of Josaphat and swells the torrent of Cedron :
and after having thus baptized Jerusalem, this over-
abundance of rain always ceases. Hence therefore we
must in no negligent manner note in what honour this
chosen and glorious city is held in the sight of the Eternal
Sire, 8 Who does not permit it to remain longer filthy, but'
because of the honour of His Only Begotten cleanses it so
quickly, since it has within the circuit of its walls the
honoured sites of His sacred Cross and Resurrection.
But in that renowned 4 place where once the Temple had
been magnificently constructed, placed in the neighbour-
hood of the wall from the east, the Saracens now frequent
a four-sided house of prayer, which they have built rudely,
1 1 Of the different carriers/ G. 8 ' Slight ' in MSS. except JL
» * Judge and Sire,' V. f R. 4 4 Beautiful/ in some MSS.
Digitized by
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN. 5
constructing it by raising boards and great beams on some
remains of ruins: this house can, it is said, hold three
thousand men at once.
Arculf, when we asked him about the dwellings of that
city, answered : 1 1 remember that I both saw and visited
many buildings of that city, and that I very often observed
a good many great houses 1 of stone through the whole of
the large city, surrounded by walls, formed with marvellous
skill.' But all these we must now, I think, pass over, with
the exception of the structure of those buildings which
have been marvellously built in the Holy Places, those
namely of the Cross and the Resurrection : as to these we
asked Arculf very carefully, especially as to the Sepulchre
of the Lord and the Church constructed over it, the form
of which Arculf himself depicted for me on a tablet
covered with wax, 2
II.— The Round Church built above the Sepul-
chre of the Lord.
And certainly this very great Church, 8 the whole of
which is of stone, was formed of marvellous roundness in
every part, rising up from the foundations in three walls,
which have one roof at a lofty elevation, 4 having a broad
pathway between each wall and the next ; there are also
three altars in three dexterously formed places of the
middle wall. 6 This round and very large church, with
the above-mentioned altars, looking one to the south,
another to the north, a third towards the west, is supported
1 ' Domos grandes.' The phrase ' domus magna,' or ' major/ is used
by Adamnan in his 'Life of St. Columba' in the sense of 'monastery.'
(Reeves, p. 216 n.)
1 Compare p. 1.
• For Professor Willis' translation, see Appendix.
* 'Which . . . elevation' in L. only.
* ' In the middle of the wall,' G.
6 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
by twelve stone columns of marvellous size. It has twice
four gates, that is four entrances, through three firmly built
walls which break upon the pathways in a straight line, of
which four means of exit look to the north-east 1 (which is
also called the 'cecias* wind), while the other four look to
the south-east.
III.— The Form of the Sepulchre itself and its
Little Cabin.
In the middle of the interior of this round house is a
round cabin (tugurium) 2 cut out in one and the same rock,
in which thrice 3 three men can pray standing ; and from the
head of a man of ordinary stature as he stands, up to the
arch of that small house, a foot and a half is measured,
upwards. The entrance of this little cabin looks to the east,
and the whole outside is covered with choice marble, while
its highest point is adorned with gold, and supports a golden
cross of no small size. In the northern part of this cabin
is the Sepulchre of the Lord, cut out in the same rock in
the inside, but the pavement of the cabin is lower than
the place of the Sepulchre; for from its pavement up to the
1 VultumuSy variously explained as the north-east and as the south-
east wind ; here (and in Bede, p. 69) the former. Cecias is the Greek
Kauciac, the north-east wind. (The MSS. give the various readings
* calcias/ ' calceas,' ' hetias,' ' caluar.')
* The words * tugurium/ ' tuguriolum,' used here interchangeably (see
p. xvii.), are of frequent occurrence in Adamnan's Life of St. Columba,
used specially of the abbot's domus, or hospitium, or hospitiolum, at
some distance from the huts of wattles or of wood in which the other
members of the community lived ; it was built of wood with joists,
and stood on an eminence ; here the founder sat and wrote, or read.
The other huts are often spoken of as cellula, the word used in de-
scribing the monastery on Mount Tabor, p. 46. The form tegurium
of some MSS. is the Irish orthography (Reeves, pp. 360, 455). It is
difficult to find a suitable rendering for the word here. At Sir Charles
Wilson's suggestion, Professor Willis' translation, -cabin^ has been
adopted. 8 ' Three,' B., Bern., G., C
Digitized by
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY A DAMN AN.
7
edge of the side of the Sepulchre a measure 1 of about three
palms is reckoned. So Arculf, who used often to visit the
Sepulchre of the Lord and measured it most accurately, told
me.
Here we must refer to the difference of names between
the Tomb and the Sepulchre ; for that round cabin
which we have often mentioned, the Evangelists called by
another name, the Tomb : they speak of the stone rolled to
its mouth, and rolled back from its mouth, when the Lord
rose. That place in the cabin is properly called the
Sepulchre, which is in the northern side of the Tomb, in which
the body of the Lord, when buried, rested, rolled in the
linen cloths : the length of which Arculf measured with his
own hand and found to be seven feet. Now this Sepulchre
is not, as some think, double, having a projection left from
the solid rock, parting and separating the two legs and the
; two thighs, but is wholly single, affording a bed capable of
holding a man lying on his back from his head even to his
soles. It is in the manner of a cave, having its opening at
the side, and opposite 2 the south part of the sepulchral
chamber. The low roof is artificially wrought above it. In
the Sepulchre there are further twelve lamps according to
the number 3 of the twelve Apostles, always burning day
and night, four of which are placed down below in the
lowest part of the sepulchral bed, while the other twice
four are placed higher above its edge on the right hand ;
they shine brightly, being nourished with oil.
But it seems that this also should be noted, that the
Mausoleum or Sepulchre of the Saviour (that is, the often*
1 1 From knee ' or ' thumb to car,' B. 9 V. C. reads, 4 From the pave-
ment to the Sepulchre of the Lord where He lay, is a height of four
fingers.'
1 * A cave having in the entrance an altar opposite/- £.
9 ' Rule,' ' names/ in some MSS.
Digitized by Google
8
ARCULF' S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
mentioned cabin), may rightly be called a Grot or Cave,
concerning which, that is to say, concerning our Lord Jesus
Christ being buried in it, the prophet prophesied : ' He shall
dwell in a most lofty cave of a most strong rock.' 1 And
a little after, to gladden the Apostles, there is inserted
about the Resurrection of the Lord : 4 Ye shall seethe King
with glory.' 2
The frontispiece shows, accordingly, the form of the
above-named church with the round little cabin placed
in its centre, in the northern side of which is the Sepulchre
of the Lord, and also the forms of the other three churches
about which we shall speak below.
We have drawn these figures of the four churches accord-
ing to the model which, as has been said above, the sainted
Arculf drew on a waxed tablet, 8 not that a likeness of then}
can be given in a drawing, but in order that the Tomb of
the Lord, be it in however poor a representation, may be
shown placed in the middle of the round church, and that
the church more properly belonging to this, or the one
placed further off, may be made clear.
IV.— The Stone that was rolled to the Mouth
of the Tomb, which the Angel of the Lord,
descending from heaven after hls resur-
rection, rolled back ; the chapel, and the
Sepulchre.
But among these things, it seems that one ought to tell
briefly about the stone, mentioned above, which was rolled
to the mouth of the Tomb of the Lord, after the burial of
the crucified Lord slain 4 by many men : which, Arculf
relates, was broken and divided into two parts, the smaller
of which, rough hewn with tools, is seen placed as a square
1 Isaiah xxxiii. 16. 9 Ibid. v. 17.
• See page 1. * « Betrayed ' in MSS. except L.
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HOL Y PLACES, WRITTEN B Y A DA Af NAN.
9
altar in the round church, described above, before the
mouth of that often-mentioned cabin, that is, the Lord's
Tomb ; while the larger part of that stone, equally hewn
around, stands fixed in the eastern part of that church as
another four-sided altar under linen cloths.
As to the colours of that rock, in which that often-
mentioned chapel was hollowed out by the tools of hewers,
which has, in its northern side, the Sepulchre of the Lord
cut out of one and the same rock in which is also the
Tomb, that is, the cabin, Arculf when questioned by
r e, said : That Cabin of the Lord's Tomb is in no way
ornamented on the inside, and shows even to this day over
all its surface the traces of the tools, which the hewers or
excavators used in their work : the colour of that rock both
of the Tomb and of the Sepulchre is not one, but two
colours seem to have been intermingled, namely red and
white, whence also that rock appears two-coloured. But
/ as to these points let what has been said suffice.
V. — The Church of St. Mary which adjoins the
Round Church.
As to the buildings of the holy places, some few
details must be added. The four-sided Church of St. Mary,
the mother of the Lord, is adjoined on the right side by
that round church which has been so often mentioned
above, and which is also called the Anastasis, that is the
Resurrection, because it was built on the spot of the Lord's
Resurrection.
VI. — The Church that is built on the Site of
Calvary.
Another very large church, looking eastwards, has been*
built on that place which, in Hebrew, is called Golgotha, 1
1 C. adds, 'but in Latin, Mount Calvary.'
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lo
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
high up in which a great circular chandelier of brass with
lamps is hung by ropes, below which has been set up a
great cross of silver, fixed in the same spot where once
stood fixed the wooden Cross, on which suffered the Saviour
of the human race.
In the same church a cave has been cut out in the rock
below the site of the Cross of the Lord, where sacrifice is
offered on an altar for the souls of certain specially honoured
persons whose bodies are meanwhile placed lying in a court 1
before the gate of that Church of Golgotha, until the holy
mysteries on their behalf are finished.
VII. — The Basilica which Constantine built close
TO THE ABOVE-NAMED CHURCH ON THE SPOT
WHERE THE CROSS OF THE LORD, WHICH HAD
BEEN BURIED IN RUINS, WAS FOUND, WHEN AFTER
MANY CENTURIES THE EARTH WAS DUG UP.
This four-sided church, built on the site of Calvary, is
adjoined on the east by the neighbouring stone Basilica,
constructed with great reverence by King Constantine
which is also called the Martyrium, 2 built, as is said, on
that spot where the Cross of the Lord, which had been
hidden away under the earth, was found with the other
two crosses of the robbers, after a period of two hundred and
thirty-three years, by the permission of the Lord Himself.
VIII.— The Site of the Altar of Abraham.
Between these two churches lies that illustrious place
where the patriarch Abraham built an altar, 8 laid on it the
1 1 Platca,' see next page, note i.
* ' Monastery' in some MSS. 4 Arculf appears to have applied to
the Basilica the name of " The Martyrium of the Resurrection," given
by Eusebius to the whole group of Constantine's buildings,' C. IV. IV.
8 On 'The Altar of Abraham,' see Abbot Daniel, Appendix II.,
p.96.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN. n
pile of wood, and seized the drawn sword to offer in
sacrifice his own son, Isaac : where is now a wooden table
of considerable size on which the alms of the poor are
offered by the people. This also the sainted Arculf added,
as I enquired of him more diligently : Between the Anastasis,
that is the round church we have often mentioned above,
and the Basilica of Constantine, lies a small square extend-
ing to the Church of Golgotha, where lamps burn always by
day and night 1
IX.— The Recess situated between the Church of
Calvary and the Basilica of Constantine, in
which are kept the cup of the lord and the
Sponge from which, as He hung on the Tree,
He drank Vinegar and Wine.
Between that Basilica of Golgotha and the Martyriuro 2
there is a recess (exedra) 8 in which is the Cup of the
Lord, which He blessed and gave with His own hand to
the Apostles in the supper on the day before He suffered,
as He and they sat at meat with one another ; the cup is
silver, holding the measure of a French quart, 4 and has
:wo little handles placed on it, one on each side. In this
;up also is the sponge which those who were crucifying
;he Lord filled with vinegar and, putting it on hyssop, offered
1 C. reads, ' Between these churches is a small square covered with
marble, extending as far as the Basilica of Constantine and the Church
of Golgotha, which is .extremely beautiful/ The word here rendered
* small square ' is plateola, ' a green ' or ' a court * within the enclosure
of a Scotic monastery, surrounding or beside which were the lodgings
of the community (Reeves, p. 360).
* 'Testimony/ B. y P. 12943,
* 'Exedra' is a small chamber, or chapel, attached to the side of a
church; the 'cubiculum' or 'separatum conclave' of the Scotic
monastery. The Greek word (i&ftpa) is of frequent occurrence in
Josephus in reference to the Temple (Reeves, pp. 224, 444).
4 Sextarius, the sixth part of a congius, or gallon.
Digitized by Google
12
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
to His mouth. From the same cup, as is said, the Lord
drank after His Resurrection, as He sat at meat with the
apostles. The sainted Arculf saw it and touched it with
his own hand, and kissed it through the opening of the
perforated cover of the case within which it is concealed :
indeed, the whole people of the city resort greatly to this
cup with immense veneration.
X.— The Spear of the Soldier with which he
Arculf also saw that spear of the soldier with which he
smote through the side of the Lord as He hung on the Cross.
The spear is fixed in a wooden cross in the portico of the
Basilica of Constantine, its shaft being broken into two
parts : and this also the whole city of Jerusalem resorts to,
kisses, and venerates.
XL— The Napkin with which the Head of the
Lord was covered in the Sepulchre. 1
As to the sacred napkin which was placed upon the head 2
of the Lord in the Sepulchre, we learn from the narrative
of the sainted Arculf, who inspected it with his own eyes. #
The whole people of Jerusalem bear witness to the truth
of the narrative we now write. For on the testimony of
several faithful citizens of Jerusalem, the sainted Arculf
learned this statement which they very often repeated to him
as he listened attentively : A certain trustworthy believing
Jew, immediately after the Resurrection of the Lord, stole
from His Sepulchre the sacred linen cloth and hid it in his
house for many days; but, by the favour of the Lord Himself,
it was found after the lapse of many years, and was brought
*
1 C. places this chapter at the end of the first Book.
* C. adds, c and the body.'
PIERCED THE SIDE OF THE LORD.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN. 13
to the notice of the whole people about three years 1 before
[this statement was made to Arculf ].* That happy, faithful
thief, when at the point of death/ sent for his two sons, and,
showing them the Lord's napkin, which he had at first
abstracted furtively, offered it to them, saying : ' My boys,
the choice is now given to you. Therefore let each of you
say which he rather wishes to choose, so that I may know
without doubt to which of you, according to his own
choice, I shall bequeathe all the substance I have, and
to which only this sacred napkin of the Lord.' On
hearing this, the one who wished to obtain all his sire's
wealth, received it from his father, according to a promise
made to him under the will. Marvellous to say, from that
day all his riches and all his patrimony, on account of
which he sold the Lord's napkin, began to decrease, and all
fhat he had was lost by various misfortunes and came to
pothing. While the other blessed son of the above-named
blessed thief, who chose the Lord's napkin in preference to
all his patrimony, from the day when he received it from
the hand of his dying sire, became, by the gift of God,
nore and more rich in earthly substance, and was by no
neans deprived of heavenly treasure. And thus this napkin
■>( the Lord was faithfully handed down as an heirloom
by the successive heirs of this thrice blessed man to their
believing sons in regular succession, even to the fifth
generation. But many years having now passed, believing
heirs of that kindred failed, after the fifth generation, and
the sacred linen cloth came into the hands of unbelieving
1 'Three hundred' is suggested by various editors.
* C. reads, instead of next three sentences, ' And when he was at the
point of death, he said to his two sons : My sons, who of you would
wish faithfully to receive the napkin of the Lord ? On hearing this,
the one who had received his sire's wealth according to his will,
received the napkin that has been spoken of, and sold it to his own
brother.'
ARCULJTS NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
Jews, who, while unworthy of such an office, yet embraced
it honourably and, by the gift of the Divine bounty, were
greatly enriched with very diverse riches. But an accurate
narrative about the Lord's napkin having spread among the
people, the believing Jews began to contend bravely with
the unbelieving Jews about the sacred linen cloth, desiring
with all their might to obtain possession of it, and the strife
that arose divided the common people of Jerusalem into two
parties, the faithful believers and the faithless unbelievers.
Upon this, Mavias, 1 the King of the Saracens, was
appealed to by both parties to adjudicate between them, and
he said to the unbelieving Jews who were persistently re-
taining the Lord's napkin : 2 'Give the sacred linen cloth
which you have into my hand.' In obedience to the king's
command, they bring it from its casket and place it in
his bosom. Receiving it with great reverence, the king
ordered a great fire to be made in the square before all the
people, and while it was burning fiercely, he rose, and
going up to the fire, addressed both contending parties ir
a loud voice : ' Now let Christ, the Saviour of the world
who suffered for the human race, upon whose head thi
napkin, which I now hold in my bosom, and as to whic
you are now contending, was placed in the Sepulchre, judg.
between you by the flame of fir^, so that you may knov
to which of these two contending hosts this great gift ma)
most worthily be entrusted/ Saying this, he threw the
sacred napkin of the Lord into the flames, but the fire
could in no way touch it, for, rising whole and untouched
from the fire, it began to fly on high, like a bird with out-
1 Z., ' Mavius f others, ' Majuvias,' *Navias C, 'Nauvias.' Muavia,
the founder of the Omeyyad dynasty, Caliph of Syria, A.D. 658 ; sole
Caliph, 661 ; died, 68a
* ' In the sight of the Christian Jews who were present,' K, R^
P. 12943.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY A DA Af NAN 15
spread wings, and looking down from a great height on the
two contending parties, placed opposite one another as if
they were two armies in battle array, it flew round in
mid air for some moments , then slowly descending, under
the guidance of God, it inclined towards the party of the
Christians, who meanwhile prayed earnestly to Christ, the
Judge, and finally it settled in their bosom. Raising their
hands to heaven, and bending the knee with great gladness,
they give thanks to God and receive the Lord's napkin
with great honour, a gift to be venerated as sent to them
from heaven ; they render praises in their hymns to Christ,
who gave it, and they cover it up in another linen cloth
and put it away in a casket of the church.
Our brother Arculf saw it one day taken out of the
casket, and amid the multitude of the people that kissed it,
he himself kissed it in an assembly of the church; it
/measures about eight feet 1 in length. 8 As to it let what has
been said suffice.
1 ' Cubits 1 in some MSS.
» On the margin of C. there is added in the handwriting of the
ifteenth century : ' But afterwards it came into the possession of the
Bishop of Anicia, who had made a voyage in the districts beyond the
sea ; and he, dying there, gave it to one who was his priest. This
priest also died as he was crossing the sea, leaving the precious gift to
a cleric who served him. He, when he was in the country of Petragora,
where he was born, placed (he napkin of the Lord in a church which
was recommended to him, near Caduinum. And not long after he
had left the church one day, a fire broke out in a [the nearest] farm
and also in that church, and burned whatever it found ; but it did not
touch the casket in which the napkin was preserved, and which was
near the altar. On hearing this, some of the brothers, who were lately
staying at Caduinum, hastened thither, and when they had found the
casket, they broke it by force, and, taking the " barletum," where the
napkin of the Lord was, they brought it with them very quickly and
deposited it in their own monastery about the year of the Lord 15 12.
But the cleric, not finding the treasure, went on to Caduinum, and
when he could not recover it, he put on the monk's habit, and as long
as he lived, he guarded there what he had formerly possessed.'
16 ARCULF'S NARRA T1VE ABOUT THE
XII. — Another Sacred Linen Cloth which, as is
said, St. Mary the Virgin, the Mother of the
Lord, wove.
Arculf saw also in that city of Jerusalem another linen
cloth of larger size, which, as is said, St. Mary wove, and
which, on that account, is held in great reverence in the
Church and by all the people. In this linen cloth the
forms of the twelve Apostles are woven, and the likeness
of the Lord Himself i$ figured ; one side of the linen cloth
is of red colour, while the opposite side is green. 1
XIII. — The Lofty Column situated on the Spot
where a Dead Young Man came to Life again,
when the Cross of the Lord was placed on
him; and the middle of the world.
We must speak briefly about a very lofty column, stand-
ing in the middle of the city, which meets one coming
from the sacred places northwards. This column is set up
on that spot where a dead young man came to life agai?
when the Cross of the Lord was placed on him, and mar
vellously in the summer solstice at mid-day, when the sur
comes to the centre of the heaven, it casts no shadow ; for
when the solstice is passed, which is the 24th 2 of June, after
three days, as the day gradually lessens, it first casts a
short shadow, then a longer one as the days pass. Thus
this column, which the brightness of the sun in the summer
solstice at mid-day, as it stands in the centre of the
heaven, 8 shining straight down from above, shines upon all
round from every quarter, proves that the city of Jerusalem
is situated in the middle of the earth. Whence also the
Psalmist, prophesying on account of the sacred sites of the
1 4 Of the colour of green herbs/ B. % P. 12943.
1 « 23rd,' JL » • Pole,' B. % P. 12943, R
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 17
Passion and the Resurrection which are contained within'
that iElia, sings : ' But God, our King, before the ages has
wrought salvation in the midst of the earth/ 1 that is, in
Jerusalem, which, being in the middle, is also called the
navel of the earth. 1
XIV.— The Church of St. Mary built in the
Valley of Josaphat, in which is her Tomb.
That sedulous visitor of the Holy Places, the sainted
Arculf, visited the Church oC St. Mary, 8 in the Valley of
Josaphat, which is built in two stories, the lower of these
being a round structure, under a marvellous stone roof,
with an altar in its eastern part, while on the right side of
it is the empty stone sepulchre of St. Mary, in which for
a time she rested after her burial* But how or when or
by whom her sacred body was raised from that sepulchre,
ofr where it awaits the Resurrection, it is said that no
one knows certainly. 6 Those who enter this lower round
Church of St. Mary see inserted, on the right of the wall,
ktol stone above which, on the night when He was betrayed
by Judas into the hands of sinful men, the Lord prayed in
the field of Gethsemane, on bended knees, before the hour
of His betrayal : and in this rock are seen the marks of
His two knees, as if they had been very deeply impressed
in the softest wax. Thus we were informed by our
brother, the sainted Arculf, the visitor of the holy places,
who with his own eyes saw what we describe. In the
upper Church of St. Mary, which is also round, there are
shown to be four altars.
1 Psalm lxxiv. 12.
1 Compare Abbot Daniel, pp. 13, 96 ; Quarterly Statement, October,
1888, pp. 260 ff.
* Compare Ant. Mar., p. 14 ; Abbot Daniel, p. 23 ; Mukaddasi, p. 49.
4 B. adds, ' and belongs to the saints.'
* 4 As Jerome relates/ C, P. 12943.
2
18 ARCULFS NARRA TIVE ABO UT THE
XV.— The Tower of Josaphat built in the same
In the same valley that has been mentioned above, not
far from the Church of St Mary, is shown the Tower of
Josaphat, in which his sepulchre is seen.
XVI.— The Tombs of Simeon and Joseph.
This 1 little tower is joined on the right hand by a stone
house, cut out of the rock and separated from the Mount
of Olivet, within which are shown two sepulchres cut out
with iron tools, destitute of ornament. One of these is
that of Simeon, the just man, who, having embraced the
little Infant, the Lord Jesus, in the Temple in both his
hands, prophesied about Him. The other is that of Joseplh,
the spouse of St. Mary, and the upbringer of the Lord Jesus.
XVII.— The Cave in the Rock of the Mount o>
Olivet, across the Valley of Josaphat, n
which are Four Tables and two Wells. 2
' In the side of the Mount of Olivet is a cave, not f
from the Church of St. Mary, placed on the higher grount
across the Valley of Josaphat, having in it two very dee
wells, one of which descends to a great depth under tb
mountain, 8 while the other is in the pavement of the cav<
its immense cavity being, as is said, directed in a straight
course, descending into the depth ; these * two wells are
always closed. In the same cave are four stone tables, of
1 -C. omits XV. and reads, 1 Thence, not far from the Church of St.
Mary, in which her sepulchre is seen, in that same Valley of Josaphat,
is a little tower of stone, which is joined on its right side [?], cut out
of the rock,' etc.
* 4 The cave of the two wells,' JL, P. 15048.
4 G.; other MSS. read, Ms extended to a great distance at a pro-
found depth.' C. has this reading, but adds, 'under the mountain. 1
Valley.
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADA Af NAN. 19
which the one nearest the entrance of the cave on the
inside is that of our Lord Jesus Christ, His seat beyond
doubt adjoining His little table ; here He was in the habit
sometimes of sitting at meat with His twelve Apostles,
who at the same time sat at the other tables in the same
place. The closed mouth of the well, referred to above as
being in the pavement of the cave, is shown to belong
especially to the tables of the Apostles. The little door-
way of this cave is closed by a wooden gate, as the sainted
Arculf, who so often visited that cave of the Lord, relates.
XVIII. — The Gate of David and the Place where
Judas Iscarioth hanged himself by a Rope.
The Gate of David adjoins a slight rising of Mount Sion
oh the west. Those going out of the city through it, leav-
ing the Gate and Mount Sion next their left hand, come to
& stone bridge, 1 directed for some distance in a straight line
across the valley to the south, raised on arches, 2 close to the
middle of which, on the west side, is the spot where Judas
of Iscarioth, driven by despair, hanged himself by a rope. 8
There is still shown here to this day a fig-tree of large
size, from the top of which, as is said, Judas hung in a
halter, as Juvencus* a versifying presbyter, has sung :
' From fig-tree top he snatched a shapeless death.'
1 ' Fountain ' in some MSS.
* C. adds, * It is through this gate that one leaves Jerusalem for the
city of Samuel, which is called Ramatha, and for Cesarea of Palestine,
as well as for Gaza/
* Compare Bord. Pil., p. 24, Ant, Mar., p. 15. The spot alluded to
must be in Wady Rababeh.
4 C. Vettius Aquilinus Juvencus, a Spaniard by birth, the author of
a Historica Evangelica, * an hexameter poem on our Lord's life, based
upon the Gospels,' * the first Christian epic* (See Smith's Diet, of
Christian Biog., vol. Hi., pp. 598 f.)
2
2
2o ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
XIX.— The Form of the Great Basilica built on
Mount Sion, and the Situation of that
Mountain.
Mention was made of Mount Sion a little above, and
here a short and succinct notice must be inserted of a
great Basilica constructed there, a drawing of which is
given here :
avth&JpoitLu
Zl wUeh&xphm,
PLAN OF THE BASILICA ON MOUNT SION, SHOWING THE SITES ON
THE SUMMIT OF THE MOUNTAIN.
Here is shown the rock upon which Stephen, bein§
stoned without the city, fell asleep. Beyond the grea
church described above, which embraces within its wa'
such holy places, there stands another memorable rock, i!
the west side of that on which, as is said, Stephen was stonea
This Apostolical Chijrch, as is said above, was built o
stone on a level surface in the higher ground of Mount Sion
1 L.j- other MSS. read, 'the Lord was scourged. 1
* C. reads for XIX., 'After this the sainted Arculf writes of tha.
place where the Lord supped with His disciples, and where the Holy
Spirit descended upon the Apostles on the holy day of Pentecost,
where he says that a great church has been constructed on the top of
Mount Sion, which is called the Apostles' Church. There is seen there
the column where the Lord was scourged, and there is also shown
there the rock on which St Stephen was stoned ; to the west there is
another church, where the Lord was tried in the Pretorium of Pilate.
Now we shall speak of the Mount of Olivet/ chap. 22. As to the tradi-
tions connected with the scenes of St. Stephen's martyrdom, burial,
etc., see Abbot Danie), Appendix I., pp. 83-90 As to the Church,
see ibid., pp. 36, 37.
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN.
21
XX. — The Little Field called in Hebrew Akel-
DEMAC
This small field, 1 which is situated towards the southern
quarter of Mount Sion, was often visited by our Arculf ; it
has a stone boundary- wall, and in it a considerable number
of pilgrims 2 are very carefully interred, while others are
left unburied very carelessly, merely covered with rags or
skins, and so, lying on the ground, putrefy.
XXI. — The Rough and Rocky Ground that extends
far and wide, from jerusalem to the clty of
Samuel, and to Cesarea of Palestine towards
the West.
From iElia northwards to the City of Samuel, which is
called Armathem, 8 the ground is rocky and rough, in which,
however, there are intervening spaces, thorny valleys also
iying up to the Tanitic region. Another description of
country is seen from the above-named ;Elia and Mount Sion
westwards extending to Cesarea of Palestine ; for though
+here may be at intervals some narrow, small, rough places,
et for the most part wider downs are met with, enlivened
by olive groves scattered over them.
XXII. — The Mount of Olivet, its Height, and the
Character of its Soil.
Other kinds of trees than the vine and the olive can, as
Arculf relates, rarely be found on the Mount of Olivet,
while very fine crops of corn and barley are raised on it.
1 Compare, Ant. Mar., p. 22 ; Abbot Daniel, p. 38 ; City of
Jerusalem, p. 20.
1 'Peregrinus* in Adamnan signifies ' pilgrim' (Reeves, Glossary).
Cf. Todd's 4 St. Patrick/ p. 261.
* c Armachim,' 4 Ramathas,' in some MSS. The present Nebi
Samwil, on the right of the old northerly road from Jaffa to Jerusalem
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ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
For the character of that soil is shown not to be adapted
for trees, but for grass and flowers. Its height, moreover,
seems to be equal to that of Mount Sion, 1 although Mount
Sion seems small and narrow when compared to the Mount
of Olivet as regards its geometrical dimensions — namely,
breadth and length. In the middle, between these two
mountains, iies the Valley of Josaphat, of which we
spoke above, stretching from north to south.
XXIII.— The Place of the Ascension of the Lord
and the Church built on it
On the whole Mount of Olivet there seems to be no spot
higher than that from which the Lord is said to have
ascended into the heavens, where there stands a great
round church, having in its circuit three vaulted porticoes'
covered over above. The interior of the church, without;
roof or vault, lies open to heaven under the open air,
having in its eastern side an altar protected under a narrow
covering. So that in this way the interior has no vault, 2 ir
order that from the place where the Divine footprints ar
last seen, 8 when the Lord was carried up into heaven in i
cloud, the way may be always open and free to the eyes ot
those who pray towards heaven. 4
For when this basilica, of which I have now made
slight mention, was building, that place of the footprints
of the Lord, as we find written elsewhere, could not be
1 The summit of Mount Olivet is 2,693 feet above the sea-level ; that
of Mount Sion 2,550 feet.
* G. t other MSS. read, ' placed over it.' Compare Abbot Daniel, p. 25.
9 L. 9 other MSS. read, Mast stood.'
4 C.j having given this paragraph in an abbreviated form, adds only,
' In the pavement whence He ascended, His sacred footprints are
seen to have been impressed.' The footprint of Christ is still shown
on Mount Olive't, ' City of Jerusalem/ p. 40. -
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN.
23
enclosed under the covering 1 with the rest of the buildings.
Whatever was applied, the unaccustomed earth, refusing to
receive anything human, cast back into the face of those
who brought it And, moreover, the mark of the dust that
was trodden by the Lord is so lasting that the impression
of the footsteps may be perceived ; and although the faith
of such as gather daily at the spot snatches away some of
what was trodden by the Lord, yet the area perceives no
loss, and the ground still retains that same appearance of
being marked by the impress of footsteps.
Further, as the sainted Arculf, who carefully visited this
spot, relates, a brass hollow cylinder of large circumference,
flattened on the top, has been placed here, its height
being shown by measurement to reach one's neck. 2 In the
centre of it is an opening of some size, through which the
uncovered marks of the feet of the Lord are plainly and
(jflearly seen from above, impressed in the dust. In that
cylinder there is, in the western side, as it were, a door ; so
that any entering by it can easily approach the place of
+ he sacred dust, and through the open hole in the wheel
ay take up in their outstretched hands some particles of
le sacred dust.
Thus the narrative of our Arculf as to the footprints of
.he Lord quite accords with the writings of others — to the
effect that they could not be covered in any way, whether
by the roof of the house or by any special lower and closer
covering ; so that they can always be seen by all that enter,
and the marks of the feet of the Lord can be clearly seen
depicted in the dust of that place. For these footprints of
the Lord are lighted by the brightness of an immense lamp
hanging on pulleys above that cylinder in the church, and
burning day and night.
Further in the western side of the round church we have
1 * Pavement * in MSS. * 1 Head ■ in some MSS.
24 ARO/LF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
mentioned above, twice four windows have been formed
high up with glazed shutters, and in these windows there
burn as many lamps placed opposite them, within and close
to them. These lamps hang in chains, and are so placed
that each lamp may hang neither higher nor lower, but
may be seen, as it were, fixed to its own window, opposite
and close to which it is specially seen. The brightness of
these lamps is so great 1 that, as their light is copiously poured
through the glass from the summit of the Mountain of
Olivet, not only is the part of the mountain nearest the
round 2 basilica to the west illuminated, but also the lofty
path which rises by steps up to the city of Jerusalem from
the Valley of Josaphat, is clearly illuminated in a wonderful
manner, even on dark nights ; while the greater part of the
city that lies nearest at hand on the opposite side is simi-
larly illuminated by the same brightness. The effect of
this brilliant and admirable coruscation of the -eight great
lamps shining by night from the holy mountain and fron
the site of the Lord's ascension, as Arculf related, is t»
pour into the hearts of the believing onlookers a great
eagerness 8 of the Divine love, and to strike the mind wi
a certain fear along with vast inward compunction.
This also Arculf related to me about the same roun
church : That on the anniversary of the Lord's Ascension
at mid-day, after the solemnities of the Mass have been
celebrated in that basilica, a most violent tempest of wind
comes on regularly every year, so that no one can stand or
sit in that church or in the neighbouring places, but all lie
prostrate in prayer with their faces in the ground until that
terrible tempest has passed.
The result of this terrific blast is that that part of the house
cannot be vaulted over ; so that above the spot where the
1 Compare St. Paula, p. 10. * « Stone' in some MSS.
* V. 9 R^ add, 'or clearness.'
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN.
25
footsteps of the Lord are impressed and are clearly shown,
within the opening in the centre of the above-named
cylinder, the way always appears open to heaven. For the
blast of the above-mentioned wind destroyed, in accordance
with the Divine will, whatever materials had been gathered
for preparing a vault above it, if any human art made the
attempt.
This account of this dreadful storm was given to us by
the sainted Arculf, who was himself present in that Church
of Mount Olivet at the very hour of the day of the Lord's
Ascension when that fierce storm arose.
A drawing of this round church is shown below, however
unworthily it may have been drawn ; while the form of the
brass cylinder is also shown placed in the middle of the
church.
PLAN OF THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION.
This also we learned from the narrative of the sainted
Arculf : That in that round church, besides the usual light
of the eight lamps mentioned above as shining within the
church by night, there are usually added on the night of
the Lord's Ascension almost innumerable other lamps,
which by their terrible and admirable brightness, poured
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26
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
abundantly through the glass of the windows, not only
illuminate the Mount of Olivet, but make it seem to be
wholly on fire ; while the whole city and the places in the
neighbourhood are also lit up.
XXIV.— The Sepulchre of Lazarus and the Church
BUILT ABOVE IT, AND THE ADJOINING MONASTERY.
Arculf, the visitor of the above-mentioned holy places,
visited a little plain at Bethany, surrounded by a great
wood of olives, where there are a great monastery and a
great basilica built over the cave from which the Lord
recalled Lazarus to life after he had been dead four
days.
XXV.— Another Church built to the Right of
As to another more celebrated church built towards t le
southern side of Bethany, on that spot of the Mount r
Olivet where the Lord is said to have addressed the di
ciples, I think that we must write briefly.
Hence we must carefully inquire what address and
what time or to what special individuals of His discip
the Lord spoke. 1 These three questions, if we will op
the writings of the three Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, ai
Luke, will be clearly answered, for the Evangelists speak
the character of the address in complete narmony with on.
another. As to the place of that meeting, no one can have
any doubt, or as to the address' and the place, who will
read Matthew speaking about the Lord : 'And as He sat
upon the Mount of Olivet, the disciples came to Him pri- ,
vately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be ? and what
1 C reads, 'And although three Evangelists describe His address,
which He then gave to the disciples,, yet Matthew writes about it more
specially : " And as He sat," etc.'
Bethany.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 27
shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of
the age?' (St. Matt. xxiv. 3): As to the persons who asked
Him, Matthew has kept silence ; but Mark has not, and he
tells us : 1 Peter and James and John and Andrew asked
Him privately' (St. Mark xiii. 3) — in reply to whose question
He delivered the address referred to by the three Evan-
gelists we have mentioned above, of which the character is
shown in His words : 'Take heed lest any man deceive you.
For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ ' (St
Mark xiii. 5, 6) and the rest that follows as to the last times
and the consummation of the age, which Matthew records at
^reat length, down to the place where the same Evangelist
y shows the time of this lengthened address, as he
.ions the words of the Lord : s And it came to pass,
n Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said to His
iples, Ye know that after two days is the Passover, and
Son of Man shall be betrayed to be crucified/ etc.
:. Matt xxvi. 1, 2). It is thus shown distinctly that
was on the fourth day of the week, when two days
ained to the first day of the Unleavened Bread, which
illed the Passover, that the Lord delivered the length-
j address mentioned above, in answer to the question of
four above-named disciples. On the place where the
ress was given a church was founded in its memory,
ich is held in great honour.
Let it suffice to have thus far described the holy places
of the city of Jerusalem, and Mount Sion, and the Mount
of Olivet, and the Valley of Josaphat, which lies between
these mountains, in accordance with the accurate narrative
of the sainted Arculf, the visitor of those places.
28 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
BOOK II.
I. — The Situation of 1 Bethlehem.
In the beginning of this Second Book we shall briefly
write a few notes about the situation of the city of Beth-
lehem, 2 which our Saviour thought worthy to be the place
where He should be born of the Holy Virgin. This city,
according to the narrative of Arculf who visited it, is not so
remarkable for situation as for its glorious fame, whkf
been published throughout the churches of all nati
it is situated on the narrow ridge of a mountain,
rounded on all sides by valleys, the ridge of gro
stretching from east to west for about a mile ; round *
level plain on the top of it is a low wall without towei
built right round the brow of that little mountain, wh.'
overhangs the little valleys lying around on both sic'
while the dwellings of the citizens are scattered ovet
intervening ground within the wall, along the longer.
II.— The Place of the Nativity of the Lord, i
In the extreme eastern angle of this city is a sort „.
natural half cave, 4 the extremity of the interior of which is
the Manger of the Lord, in which His mother laid the new-
born babe ; while another, contiguous to the manger we
have just mentioned, 6 is shown to such as enter, as being the
1 ' Of the district of Jerusalem ; that is, Bethlehem,' V. } R.
* C. reads, 'about Bethlehem, which is the district of Jerusalem.'
* Compare Abbot Daniel, p. 40. 4 C. omits 'half.'
5 C. inserts, ' where a little house has been constructed of stone/
meter.
Church of St. Mary.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY AD A MN AN.
29
traditional site of His real nativity. The whole of this
cave of the Manger of the Lord at Bethlehem has been
adorned on the inside with precious marble, in honour of
the Saviour, while in the half cave, above the stone
chamber, there has been built the Church of St Mary,
above the place where the Lord is said to have been
actually born, which is a grand structure.
Ill,— The Rock situated beyond the Wall, upon
which the Water, -in which He was fir.st
washed after His Birth, was poured.
Here I think I must briefly mention the rock lying
beyond the wall, upon which the water of the first bathing
of the Lord's body after His birth, was poured from the
topi of the wall out of the vessel into which it had been
This water of the sacred bath, poured from the wall,
nd a receptacle in a rock lying below, which had been
lowed out by nature like a trench : and this water has
1 constantly replenished from that day to our own time
ng the course of many ages, so that the cavity is shown
of the purest water without any loss or diminution, our
'iour miraculously bringing this about from the day of
; nativity, of which the prophet sings : ' Who brought
ter out of the rock ; >l and the Apostle Paul, ' Now that
*x>ck was Christ/ 3 who, contrary to nature, brought water
or a stream out of the hardest rock in the desert to console
His thirsting people. Such is the power of God and the
wisdom of God, who brought out water also from that rock
of Bethlehem and keeps its cavity always full of water :
this our Arculf inspected with his own eyes, and he washed
his face in it.
1 Isaiah xlviii. 21.
* 1 Cor. x. 4.
30 ARCULF 1 S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
IV. — Another Church in which the Tomb of
David is seen.
Arculf, when I asked him about the Sepulchre of King
David, 1 gave us this answer : I myself inquired very care-
fully about the Sepulchre of King David, in which he was
buried in the earth, and visited it. It lies in the middle 2 of
the pavement of the church, without any overlying orna-
ment, surrounded only by a low fence 8 of stone, and having
a lamp shining brightly placed over it.
This church is built outside the wall of the city in an
adjoining valley, which joins the Hill of Bethlehem on the
north.
V. — The Church within which is the Sepulchre
of St. Hieronymus [Jerome].
As we inquired with like solicitude as to the Sepulchre
of St Hieronymus,* Arculf told us : I saw the Sepulchre
Hieronymus, as to which you inquire, which is in a chu
built in a valley beyond that little city, 5 which is r
terminous with the ridge of the Hill of Bethlehem, r
tioned above, and lies to the south of it This Sepul
of St. Hieronymus is of similar workmanship to the Tc
of David, and is unornamented.
VI. — The Tombs of the Three Shepherds, arou
whom, when the Lord was born, the Heavens*
Brightness shone; and their Church.
Arculf gave us a short account of the tombs of those
shepherds, around whom, on the night of the Lord's
1 Compare Ant. Mar., p. 23 ; Bord. Pil., p. 27.
* C. reads, 4 south.'
1 4 Pyramis' here, and p. 31, has apparently the meaning of a 4 square
fence. 1 See Reeves, p. 452.
\ Compare Ant. Mar., p. 23. * C. omits 4 little.'
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. y
Nativity, the heavenly brightness shone : I visited, he said,
the three tombs of those three shepherds who are buried in a
church near the Tower of Gader, 1 which is about a mile to
the east of Bethlehem, whom, when the Lord was born,
the brightness of the angelic light 2 surrounded at that place,
that is near the Tower of the Flock ; where that church has
been built, containing the sepulchres of those shepherds.
VII.— The Sepulchre of Rachel.
The Book of Genesis relates that Rachel was buried in
Ephrata, that is, in the district of Bethlehem, and the
' Book of Places ' relates that Rachel was buried in that
district close to the road. In answer to my questions
Jt this road, Arculf said : There is a royal road which
s from iElia southwards to Hebron, close to which,
miles from Jerusalem, is Bethlehem on the east, while
Sepulchre of Rachel is at the end of this road on the
., that is, on one's right hand as one goes to Hebron ; it
building of common workmanship and without orna-.
tation, surrounded by a stone fence.* There is shown
at the present day the inscription with her name,
;h Jacob, her husband, erected above it. 5
iebron, which is also Mambre, was once the metropolis
ji the Philistines and inhabited by giants ; David reigned
in it for seven years, and, as the sainted Arculf relates, it
is not now surrounded by walls. Some traces of the fcity,
which was long ago destroyed, appear in remnants of ruins ;
but it has some poorly built villages, fields, and farm-
houses, some lying within, others without, those remains
1 C. reads, ' Aden' So St. Paula, p. 8. It is now known as Beit
Sahur. Compare Abbot Daniel, p. 42.
* 4 Voice,' A, C 9 C. reads, c five.' 4 See p. 30, note 3.
8 A monument at this spot is constantly spoken of from A.D. 333.
VIII.— Hebron.
32
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
of the destroyed walls, scattered over the surface of the
plain, while a multitude of people live in those villages and
farms.
IX. — The Valley of Mambre, and the Sepulchre
To the east of Hebron is a field with a double cave,
looking towards Mambre, which Abraham bought from
Ephron the Hittite, for a possession of a double sepulchre. 1
In the valley of this field the sainted Arculf visited the
site of the Sepulchre of Arba, that is, of the four patriarchs,
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Adam, the first man,
whose feet are not, as is customary in other parts of tb-
world, turned towards the east in burial, but are turnet
the south, and their heads to the north. The site of £
sepulchres is surrounded by a low rectangular* wall. Ad
the first created, to whom, when he sinned, immediately *
the sin was committed, God the Creator said : ' Dust thou
and to the dust thou shalt return/ 8 is separated somev
from the other three, next the northern side of the rec
gular stone rampart, buried not in a stone sepulchre cu
in the rock above ground, as other honoured men ot
seed lie, but buried in the ground, covered with earth,
himself, dust, turned into dust, rests waiting the resur
tion with all his seed. And thus in that sepulchre is in-
filled the divine sentence uttered to him as to himself. 4
- 1 £.y K, R., add, ' which are not seen above the ground, but there
are thought to be twin sepulchres under the ground.' A description of
the Haram enclosure at Hebron is given by Capt. Conder in P. F. M.,
III., pp. 333-346, and by the late Dean Stanley, 'Jewish Church/ Vol. I.,
Appendix II., pp. 416-437 (London, 1877). Compare Ant. Mar., p. 24 ;
Abbot Daniel, p. 45 ; 'Journey through Syria and Palestine/ pp. 53 ff.
* ' Quadrato ' appears here to be used for ' quadrangulo,' the real
shape of the enclosure not being square. * Gen, iii. 19.
4 ' Because he was buried in the earth/ Z?., K, R.
of the Four Patriarchs.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN.
And after the example of the Sepulchre of the first
parent, the other three Patriarchs also rest in sleep covered
with common dust, their four Sepulchres having placed above
them small monuments, cut out and hewn from single
stones, in the form of a basilica, and formed according to
the measure of the length and the breadth of each
Sepulchre. The three adjoining Sepulchres of Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob are protected by three hard white
stones, placed over them, formed according to the shape of
which we have now written, as has been said above;
while Adam's Sepulchre is also protected by a stone placed
over it, but of darker colour and poorer workmanship.
Arculf saw also the poorer and smaller monuments of the
three women, namely Sara, and Rebecca, and Lia, buried
in the earth. The sepulchral field of those patriarchs is
found to be one furlong from the wall of that most ancient
»ron, towards the east. This Hebron, it is said, was
ded before all the cities, not only of Palestine, but also
eded in its foundation all the cities of Egypt, although
is now been so miserably destroyed.
ius far let it suffice to have written as to the
Ichres of the Patriarchs.
X.— The Hill and the Oak of Mambre.
A mile to the north of the Tombs that have been
described above, is the very grassy and flowery hill of
Mambre, looking towards Hebron, which lies to the south
of it This little mountain, which is called Mambre, has
a level summit, at the north side of which a great stone
church has been built, in the right side of which between
the two walls of this great Basilica, the Oak of Mambre, 1
1 The Oak or Terebinth of Abraham has been shown in two different
sites. Arculf and many others (Jerome, I tin. Hicrosol., Sozomen,
Eucherius, Benjamin of Tudela, the Abbot Daniel, p. 43, etc.) seem
3
34
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
wonderful to relate, stands rooted in the earth ; it is also
called the oak of Abraham, because under it he once
hospitably received the Angels. St. Hieronymus elsewhere
relates, that this tree had existed from the beginning of
the world to the reign of the Emperor Constantine ; but
he did not say that it had utterly perished, perhaps because
at that time, although the whole of that vast tree was not
to be seen as it had been formerly, yet a spurious trunk
still remained rooted in the ground, protected under the
roof of the church, of the height of two men ; from this
wasted spurious trunk, which has been cut on all sides by
axes, small chips are carried to the different provinces of the
world, on account of the veneration and memory of that
oak, under which, as has been mentioned above, that famous
and notable visit of the Angels was granted to the patriarch
Abraham. Around the church, which is built there in
honour of that place, a few dwellings of monks are she
But as to these, let it suffice to have said this ; let us g<
to other points.
XI. — The Pine-forest from which FiREWoor
BROUGHT TO JERUSALEM ON CAMELS.
As we leave Hebron, we come, at a distance of
miles, to the north of the city, and in a wide plain not fa.
from the side of the road on the left hand, to a hill of nc
great size covered with pines. From this pine forest, wood
is carried to Jerusalem on camels for burning in fires — on
camels, I say, for, as Arculf relates, carts or waggons can
rarely be found throughout all Judaea.
to point to the ruin of er Rameh, near which is Beit el Khuli), or
Abraham's House, with a fine spring-well. This is still held by the
Jews to be the Oak of Mamre. The Christians point to another site,
Ballutet Sebta, where is a fine specimen of Sindian (Quercus Pseudo-
coccifera).
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN.
35
XIL— Jericho.
Our sainted Arculf saw the site of the city of Jericho,
which Joshua destroyed, after crossing the Jordan, slaying
its king, in the place of which Hiel 1 of Bethel, of the tribe of
Ephraim, built another city, which our Saviour thought fit
to honour with His presence. At the time when the
Romans attacked and besieged Jerusalem, this city was
taken and destroyed on account of the perfidy of its in-
habitants. In its place a third was built, which also after a
long interval of time was itself destroyed ; of its ruins, as
Arculf relates, some traces are shown. Marvellous to say,
even after these three successive cities have been destroyed
on the same site, there still remains only the house of Raab
the harlot, 2 who hid the two spies, whom Joshua Ben-Nun
sent across, concealing them in flax straw in the garret
^ e stone walls of her house remain, but without a roof,
e whole site of the city is left without human habitation,
: even having a house of rest, and produces corn and
es. 8 Between the site of this destroyed city and the
r Jordan are great palm groves, throughout which are
tered spots where there are nearly countless houses
ibited by sorry fellows of the race of Channan. 4
XIII.— Galgal, and the Twelve Stones which the
Children of Israel, after crossing the River
Jordan, took from its Dried Channel.
Arculf, of whom I have spoken, saw a large Church in
Galgal, built on the spot where the children of Israel, after
crossing the Jordan, encamped for the first time in the land
* MSS. 1 Oza.'
9 Compare Bord. PH., p. 25 ; Ant. Mar., p. 12.
* Compare Abbot Daniel, p. 31.
4 Compare Mukad., p. 56, 'The people are brown-skinned and
swarthy.'
3-2
36
ARCULF' S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
of Chanaan. In this church too the sainted Arciilf noted
the twelve stones as to which, after the crossing of the
Jordan, the Lord spoke to Josue : l Choose twelve men, one
for each tribe, and command them to take from the middle
of the channel of the Jordan, where the feet of the priests
have stood, twelve very hard stones, which ye shall place
on the site of your camp, where ye shall pitch your tents
this night. These, I say, Arculf saw, six of them lying on
the pavement on the right side of the church, and an equal
number on the north side, all of them unpolished and
common ; each of them is so large that, as Arculf himself
relates, two strong young men of this time can scarcely
raise it from the earth; while one had by some un-
known accident been broken in two parts, and has been
artificially joined again by an iron clamp. Galgal,* where
the above-mentioned church is built, lies^to the east of the
most ancient Jericho on this side of the Jordan, in the lc
the tribe of Juda, at the fifth milestone from Jericho ;
Tabernacle was fixed here for a longtime; and in this pi.
as is said, the above-named church was built, in which
the above-mentioned twelve stones; it is held in marve!
reverence and honour by the people of that district.
XIV.— The Place where our Lord was baptizel
That sacred and honoured place, where the Lord was
baptized by John, is always covered by the waters of the
1 Joshua iv. 1-3.
1 C reads, ' He saw also in Galgal another church on the east side
of the ancient Jericho, and at the fifth milestone from Jericho, where
the Tabernacle was fixed for a long time.' The name of Galgal is
still found in Birket Jilujlieh. The distance from Jericho is most
variously stated by different pilgrims : 'one mile/ Theodoras, ch.xvi. ;
'not far/ Ant Mar., p. 12 ; 4 a verst' (two-thirds English mile) 'to-
wards the summer sun-rising, 1 N.E., Abbot Daniel, p. 32.
* As to the Holy Places on and near the Jordan, see Ant. Mar.,
Appendix I., pp. -38-41.
by John. 8
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN, 37
river Jordan, and as Arculf, who went to the place, relates,
he passed backwards and forwards to it 1 through the river ;
in that sacred place a wooden cross of great size is fixed,
close to which the water comes up to the neck of the tallest
man, or, at a time of great drought, when the waters are
diminished, up to his breast ; but when the river is in
flood, the whole of . the cross is covered over by the
additional waters. The site of that cross, accordingly,
marking the place where, as has been said above, the Lord
was baptized, is on this side 2 of the bed of the river, and a
strong man can with a sling throw a stone from it as far as
the other bank on the Arabian side. From the site of the
above-mentioned cross, a stone bridge is carried on
arches to the bank, across which men go to the cross and
descend by a slope to the bank, ascending as they return. 3
At, the edge of the river is a small square church, built, as is
\, on the spot where the garments of the Lord were taken
; of at the time when He was baptized. This is raised, so
o be uninhabitable, on four stone vaults, standing above
waters which flow below. It is protected above by
Hue et illuc per eundem intravit fiimum.'
\ reads, ' on the other side'
* he text appears to be corrupt The descent was from the bank
:o the cross, not from the cross to the bank. The allusion may,
however, be to the descent from the upper to the lower bank. Compare
Bede, p. 82. The translation of C. for the whole passage is : ' He told
us also that that sacred, holy, and honourable place, in which the Lord
was baptized by John, is always covered by the waters of the river
Jordan ; and in that place a wooden cross has been fixed. The site
of that cross, where the Lord was baptized, is on the other side of the
bed of the river, while at the edge of the river there is a small church,
where, as is said, the garments of the Lord were taken care of. This
basilica stands above the waters, so as to be uninhabitable, since the
waters flow under it on both sides, and is supported on four stone
vaults and arches. On the higher ground, there is another church in
honour of St John Baptist'
38
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
slacked lime, 1 and below, as has been said, is supported by
vaults and arches. This church is in the lower ground of the
valley through which the river Jordan flows ; while on the
higher ground, overhanging it, a great monastery of monks
is built on the brow of the opposite hill. There is also
enclosed within the same wall as the monastery, a church
in honour of St. John Baptist, built of squared stones.
XV. — The Colour of the Jordan, and the
The colour of the river Jordan appears from ArculPs
narrative to be white on the surface, like milk, and as it
enters the Salt Sea its colour can easily be distinguished
from that of the Dead Sea for a long distance along its
course. 1
In great tempests the Dead Sea casts up salt on the
ground by the dashing of its waves, and this can usually
had in abundance along its circuit, affording a very la
supply, not only to those in the vicinity but also to :
distant nations ; it is sufficiently dried by the heat of
sun. Salt is otherwise obtained in a mountain of Sic
for the stones of that mountain, when turned out of
earth, prove to be naturally most salt to the taste, this being
properly called Earth Salt Sea salt, however, is usually
given a different name from earth salt. From this the Lord
is believed to have derived His simile when He says to
the Apostles in the Gospel : ' Ye are the salt of the earth/
etc. As to this earth salt found in the mountain of Sicily,
we were told by the sainted Arculf, who spent some days
1 ' Coctili creta.' ' I do not remember having seen the expression
elsewhere.'— C. W. W.
2 Travellers speak of the water of the Jordan where it debouches
into the Salt Sea as so turgid that its stream can be plainly traced for
some distance in the clear blue water of the sea, ( Mount Seir,' p. 163 ;
Tristram's * Land of Israel,' p. 249.
Dead Sea.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 39
in Sicily, and who proved by sight and taste and touch
that it was really the very saltest of salt.
He informed us also as to the salt of the Dead Sea,
which he said he had similarly made proof of by the same
three senses named above ; he visited also the sea-shore of
that lake we have mentioned above, the length of which,
extending to Zoar of Arabia, 1 is 580 furlongs; the breadth
in the neighbourhood of Sodom is 150 furlongs.
XVII.— The Fountains of the Jordan.
Our Arculf proceeded also to that place in the province
of Phenicia, where the Jordan seems to emerge from two
neighbouring fountains at the roots of Lebanon, one of
"-Mch is called Jor and the other Dan, which, mingling
ather, give rise to the compound name Jordan. 2 But it
o be noted that the source of the Jordan is not in
Zoar ('Zoari' is the form used here) of Arabia (spelt as Sughar by
caddasi, also Zughar and Sukar) is the Segor of the Crusaders, the
.sent Tell esh Shighur. In Mukaddasi's time (985 A.D.) it was 'for
immercial prosperity like a miniature Busrah' (p. 3), and it was the
apital of the district. The question of the identification of this site
*ith the Zoar of Lot is discussed by Mr. Guy Le Strange in 'Across
the Jordan/ pp. 317-320, from a careful examination of the Arab geo-
graphers. See also a paper by Mons. Clermont Ganneau, translated
in the P. E. F. Quarterly Statement, January, 1886. Mukaddasi calls
the Dead Sea 1 the Lake of Sughar.' See St Paula, p. 10 ; Ant. Mar.,
pp. 10, 27 ; Abbot Daniel, p. 47 ; Mukad., pp. 62, 84- The length of the
Dead Sea is 49 miles, the greatest breadth 9} miles.
* The two sources of the Jordan, at Banias (Caesarea Philippi) and
Tell el Kady (Dan). The idea that these streams were called 'Jor*
and * Dan/ and the derivation from this fact of the name given to the
river formed by their united stream, date from the time of Josephus at
least. Compare Ant. Mar., p. 6 ; Ernoul, p. 50. The Abbot Daniel
strangely represents (p. 60) the two streams as flowing, three bow-
shots apart, from the Sea of Galilee, and re-uniting after about half a
verst (a third of a mile).
XVI.— The Dead Sea— continued.
40 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
Paneum, but in the district of Trachonitis, at a distance
of 1 20 furlongs 1 from Caesarea Philippi, which is now
Paneas, a name taken from the mountain Paneum, which
is in Trachonitis.* Phiala, which is always full of water,
whence the Jordan flows through underground channels,
bubbles up also in Paneum, in two divisions, which, as has
been said above, are usually called Jor and Dan. On
leaving this, after some interval, they flow together so as to
form one river, which thence directs its course for 120 fur-
longs, without receiving any addition, 8 as far as the city of
Julias. 4 Afterwards it flows through* the middle of the lake,
called Genezar, whence, after wandering through a con-
siderable desert tract, it is received in the Asphaltic Lake,
and is lost in it. Thus having passed victoriously through
two lakes, its course is stayed by a third.
The sainted Arculf, who has been so often mentior
went round the greater part of the Sea of Galilee, whic
also called the Lake of Cinnereth and the Sea of Tiber
L'i99.'£»
1 The belief that the real source of the Jordan was in a Lake Pniaj
on the road to Trachonitis, 120 stadia from Banias, from which th
water flowed underground to the Cave of Pan in the latter place, is a.
old as the time of Josephus, and has been completely given up only in
recent years. Phiala is identified with the Birket er Ram, S.E. of
Banias.
1 The Jordan is joined by the Nahr Hasbany, half a mile below the
junction of the streams from Banias and Tell el Kady. The length of
the river from that point to the Lake of Galilee is rather more than
20 miles.
4 C reads, * Tiberias/ and continues, 1 Thence it flows to the place
which is called Genezar. The Lake of Galilee is formed from the
Jordan ; it is called at one time the Sea of Cenereth, at another the
Sea of Tiberias ; great woods adjoin it.' The identification of (Beth-
saida-) Julias with the ruin et Tell, a little more than a mile north of
the point of the debouchure of the Jordan into the lake, cannot be
discussed here. Cf. ' The Jaulan,' p. 246.
XVIII.— The Sea of Galilee.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY A DA M NAN.
41
and which is closely surrounded by great woods. The lake
itself, the size of which almost entitles it to the name of
a sea, extends in length to 140 furlongs, and in breadth
stretches over 40 j 1 its waters are sweet and good for
drinking, since they receive nothing that is thick with
marsh mud or turbid, because it is surrounded on all
sides by a sandy shore, wherefore its water is purer and
better 2 for use. Of fish, moreover, no finer kinds, either in
taste or in appearance, can be found in any other lake. 8
We have taken these short particulars as to the source
of the Jordan and the Lake of Cinnereth partly from the
chird book of the Jewish Captivity, partly from the expe-
rience of Arculf. He relates with perfect certainty that he
went in eight 4 days from that place where the Jordan
emerges from the gorge of the Sea of Galilee to that where
it enters the Dead Sea. This most salt sea the sainted
' ~~ulf very often gazed at from the summit of the Mount
)livet, as he himself narrates.
XIX.— SlCHEM AND THE WELL OF SAMARIA.
Arculf, the sainted priest, passed through the district of
.amaria, and came to the city of that province which is
jailed, in Hebrew, Sichem, but is named Sicima by Greek
and Latin custom ; it is also often called Sichar, however
improperly. Near that city he saw a church built beyond
the wall, which is four-armed, stretching towards the four
cardinal points, like a cross, a plan of which is drawn below. 5
In the middle of it is the Fountain of Jacob, which is also
I The extreme length of the lake is 12$ miles, its* greatest width
(from Mejdel to Khersa) 6} miles. 1 The water of the lake is clear,
bright, and sweet to the taste, except in the neighbourhood of the
salt-springs, and where it is defiled by the drainage of Tiberias.'—
* Recovery of Jerusalem, 7 pp. 339 f.
I I Softer,' L. * MSS. read 4 place.' * ' Seven,* L.
* See Ant. Mar., p. 6, note 1 ; St. Paula, p. 13 ; Bord. Pil., p. 18, note 7.
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42 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
often called a well, looking towards its four divisions, upon
which the Saviour, wearied out with the toil of His journey,
sat one day at the sixth hour, when the woman of Samaria 1
came to that well at mid-day to draw water. As to this
well, the woman, among other things, said in answer to the
Lord : ' Lord, neither hast Thou anything to draw with, and
F 3 ^
CB
s ■
O
CB
PLAN OF THE CHURCH BUILT ABOVE JACOB'S WELL.
the well is deep.' 2 Arculf, who drank water from the wel
relates as to its depth : The well that I saw has a depth o
twice twenty orgyiae, that is, forty cubits. An orgyia, or
cubit, is the length from extremity to extremity of the
outstretched arms. 3
Sichem, or Sichema, was once a priestly city and a city
1 C. reads, * thirsting for the faith of the woman of Samaria.'
1 St. John iv. ii.
* Orgyia (Apyvia), a Greek measure of length, derived from the
human body, was the distance from extremity to extremity of the out-
stretched arms, whence the name, from 6pky<o. It was equal to 6 feet,
or to 4 cubits, and was xJ<jth of the stadium. — Smith's ' Dictionary of
Antiquities,';.?/. No idea can at present be formed as to the real
depth of the well
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HOLY PLACES, WRLTTEN BY ADAM NAN. 43
of refuge; it was included in the tribe of Manasseh and in
Mount Ephraim, where Joseph's bones were buried.
XX. — A Little Fountain in the Wilderness.
Arculf, whom we have often mentioned, saw in a desert
a small clear fountain, from which St. John Baptist is
said to have drunk ; it is protected by a stone covering
besmeared with lime.
XXI.— The Locusts and the Wild Honey.
As to the same John, the Evangelists write : ' Now his
food was locusts and wild honey.' 1 Our Arculf saw, in that
desert where John dwelt, a very small kind of locusts, the
bodies of which are small and short like the finger of a
hand, and which are easily captured in the grass, as their
flfabt is short like the leaps of light frogs ; cooked in oil,
afford food for the poor. 2 As to the ' wild honey/
if gave us this as his experience : In that desert I saw
trees, with broad round leaves which are of the colour
ilk and have the taste of honey ; s they are naturally
fragile, and those who wish to eat them first rub them
their hands and then eat them. This wild honey is thus
und in the woods.
XXII.— The Place where the Lord blessed the
Five Loaves and the Two Fishes.
Our Arculf, whom we have often mentioned, came to this
place, where a grassy and level plain has never been
ploughed from the day when on it the Saviour satisfied five
1 St. Matt. iii. 4.
1 Locusts are eaten by the Arabs, but only by the very poorest.
This interpretation is accepted by many commentators, among
them by Meyer, I.e. The term used is specially explained in this
sense by Diod. Sic. XIX. 94, and Suidas, s. v. <bepc£.
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44 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
thousand men with five loaves and two fishes ; no buildings
are to be seen on it ; Arculf saw only a few 1 columns of
stone lying at the margin of the fountain from which they
are said to have drunk on that day when the Lord refreshed
them, in their hunger, with such a refection. This place
is on this side of* the Sea of Galilee, looking to the city of
Tiberias which is to the south of it*
XXI II.— The Sea of Tiberias and Capharnaum.
Those who, coming down from Jerusalem, wish to reach
Capharnaum, proceed, as Arculf relates, through Tiberias
in a straight course, and thence along the Lake of
Cinnereth, which is also the sea of Tiberias and the se?
of Galilee ; they pass the site of the above-mentioned
Blessing, at a point where two ways meet, and proceeding
along the margin of the above-mentioned lake, at no great
distance they come to Capharnaum, on the sea coast, unon
the borders of Zabulon and Nepthalim. Arculf, who obs
it from a neighbouring mountain, relates that it has nc
and is confined in a narrow space between the mou
and the lake, extending along the sea coast for a
distance ; having the mountain on the north and the
on the south, it stretches from west to east. 4
1 C. reads, 4 four.' 1 ' Opposite/ Z., B. 9 K, ft.
' Compare Ant. Mar., p. 8, note I ; St. Paula, p. 14 ; Abb. Dan., p. 6j
The site referred to by Arculf appears to be that around the 'Ain ei
Fuliyeh, half-way between Tiberias and el Mejdel (referred to as 'Ain
Barideh in 'Recovery of Jerusalem/ p. 359). Tradition at present
points to the brow of the hill between Kurn Hattin and Tiberias as
the spot of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. The spot often referred
to as the Mensa Christi appears to be el 'Oreimeh, a small artificial
square plateau above 'Ain et Tin, close to Kh. Minieh (P. F. M., vol. i.,
p. 369). All these places are on the west side of the lake. Compare
1 City of Jerusalem/ p. 46.
4 The evidence of Arculf as to the site of Capernaum is sufficiently
vague to allow of its being quoted by the supporters of both the sites
that are now in dispute— -Kh. Minieh and Tell Hum.
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 45
XXIV.— Nazareth and its Churches.
The city of Nazareth, as Arculf who stayed in it relates,
is situated on a mountain. It is, like Capharnaum, un-
walled, yet it has large houses built of stone, and also two
very large churches. One of these, in the middle of the
city, is built upon two vaults, on the spot where there once
stood the house in which our Lord the Saviour was brought
up. 1 Among the mounds below this church, 4 which, as has
been said, is supported upon two mounds and intervening
arches, there is a very clear spring, frequented by all the
citizens, who draw water from it, and from the same spring
water is raised in vessels to the church above by means of
wheels^ The other church is reputed to be built on the
si*^ .of the house in which the Archangel Gabriel came and
;sed the Blessed Mary, whom he found there alone
X hour. 8 This information as to Nazareth we have
led from the sainted Arculf, who stayed there two
5 and as many days, but was prevented from staying
ger in it, as he was compelled to hasten onwards by a
dier of Christ, well acquainted with sites, a Burgundian
/ing a solitary life, Peter by name, who thence returned
ircuitously to that solitary 4 place where he had formerly
>tayed.
1 The house of the Virgin appears to be the irregularly-shaped
grotto known as The Virgin's Kitchen. P. F. M., vol. i., p. 276.
* C. reads, ' Between the mounds of the two churches.'
1 The present buildings in en N&sirah are, of course, of a far later
period than this. But the Greek Church of St. Gabriel has a spring
of water rising just north of the high altar, with an opening in the floor
to the conduit, which carries the water south to the Virgin's Well, or
the Fountain of the Annunciation, the only well in Nazareth.
« c Holy,
46 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
XXV.— Mount Tabor.
Mount Tabor is in Galilee, three miles from the Lake of
Cinnereth, marvellously round on every side, looking fron.
its northern side over the lake we have just named. It is
very grassy and flowery, having an ample plain on its
pleasant summit, and is surrounded by a very large wood.
In the middle of this level surface is a great monastery of
monks, with a large number of their cells. For its summit
is not drawn up to a narrow peak, but is spread over a level
surface of twenty-four 1 furlongs in length, while its height
is thirty furlongs. 2
On this higher plain are also three very celebrated*
churches 8 of no small construction, according to the number
of those tabernacles of which Peter spoke to the Lord on
that holy mountain, while he rejoiced in the heavenly
vision, but yet was terrified by it, saying: 'It is good
that we should be here ; if Thou wilt, let us mak
three tabernacles, one for Thee and one for Moses ar,
for Elias.'* The buildings of the monasteries and the
churches mentioned above, with the cells of the monk
1 * Twenty-three,' C, Bern.
' Jebel et Tor is a conical mountain with a flat summit, which i.
little less than a quarter of a mile long and one-eighth of £ mile wic
1843 feet above the sea-level, 1500 feet above the Plain of Esdraelo
at the foot. The southern face is almost bare, but the northern i
clothed to the top with a forest of oak and terebinth, mingled with
syringa. — 4 The Land and the Book.'
* There are still to be traced on the summit the foundations of three
churches which the markings of the stones show to have been built
in Crusading times. See P. F. M., vol. L. pp. 388-391. The idea
that Mount Tabor was the scene of the Transfiguration still strangely
survives in spite of all proof to the contrary. It dates from a much
earlier date than the Crusades, as shown by this passage, and by the
still earlier references in Ant. Mar., p. 5 ; St Paula, p. 14. The
Bordeaux Pilgrim, p. 25, places the Transfiguration on the Mount of
Olives. 4 St Matt xvii. 4.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN.
-47
all surrounded by a stone wall. 1 There the sainted Arculf
spent one night on the top of that holy mountain, for
Peter, the Burgundian Christian, who was his guide in
those places, would not allow him to stay in one hospice
longer, but hurried him on. 2
It should here be noted that the name of that famous
mountain ought to be written in Greek with 0 and long
0«j3ty>, and in Latin with the aspirate Thabor, the letter o
being long. The proper orthography of the word is found
in Greek books. 8
XXVI.— Damascus.
Damascus, according to the account of Arculf, who
stayed some days in it, is a great royal city, situated in a
wide plain, surrounded by an ample circuit of walls, and
further fortified by frequent towers. Without the walls there
are a large number of olive groves round about, while four
great rivers flow through it, bringing great joy to the city.
The king of the Saracens has seized the government, and
reigns in that city, and a large church has been built there
in hohour of St John Baptist. There has also been built,
in that same city, a church of unbelieving Saracens which
th©y frequent.
/ XXVIL— Tyre.
Our Arculf, who visited so many districts, also entered
Tyre, the metropolis of the province of Phenicia, which in
Hebrew and Syriac is called Tsor, and which is said in
Greek and Latin and barbarous histories to have had no
1 This wall may be that built by Josephus round the top of the
mountain.
1 C adds, ' For this Peter, leaving his parents and his country, was
now an exile for a long time for the Lord's sake.'
9 The Greek form is Qafiwp, but it is also represented by 'lra/3vpi©v
(Josephus), and 'AraPvpiov (Polybius).
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48 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
approach from the land. But some say that afterwards .
mounds were thrown up by Nabuchodonosor, King of the
Chaldeans, and that a place was prepared for dart; and
battering-rams in the assault, so that the island became <
part of the level plain. 1 This city was beautiful and very
noble, and it is not unworthily rendered in Latin ' narrow/
for the island and the city have the same characteristic
narrowness. It is situated in the land of Chanaan, where
the Chananite or Tyrophenidan woman lived, who is men-,
tioned in the Gospel.
It is. to be noted that the account of the site of Tyre
and the site of Mount Thabor,* given by the sainted Arculf,
is in complete accordance with what we have excerpted
above from the commentaries of St. Hteronymus. Also what
we have above stated as to the site and form of Mount
Thabor, according to the narrative of the sainted Arculf, in j
no way differs from what St. Hieronymus narrates as to the ,
situation and the marvellous roundness of that mountain.
From Mount Thabor to Damascus is a seven 8 days' journey. 4
XXVIIL— Alexandria, and the River Nile anp its
Crocodiles.
That great city, which was once the metropolis of Egjtot,
was formerly called in Hebrew No. 6 It is a very populous
city, deriving its name of Alexandria, a name known anV
famous among all nations, from its founder Alexander, the
king of Macedonia, from whom it received both the magni-
1 It was by Alexander the Great (who took Tyre after a seven .
month's' siege, B.C 332) that the island was united to the mainland by >
an artificial mole. The siege by Nebuchadnezzar, which lasted for
nineteen years, was probably ended by capitulation on honourable
terms. * 4 And . . . Thabor,' only in JL
• Some MSS., * two,' 1 four,' 4 eight.' 4 C. ends here.
5 The 1 No' of the Old Testament is undoubtedly Thebes, not Alex-
andria (as Jerome supposed).
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN. 49
tude of a city and its name. As to its situation, Arculf gave
us an account, which differs in no way from what we have
learned in the course of our previous reading.
Going down from Jerusalem and beginning his voyage
at Joppa, he had a journey of forty days to Alexandria,
of which Nahum the prophet speaks briefly, when he says :
• Water round about it, whose riches are the sea, waters are
its walls/ 1 For on the south it is surrounded by the mouths
of the river Nile, while on the north, 2 as the outline of its
position clearly shows, it is situated upon 8 the Nile and the sea,
so that on this side and on that it is surrounded by water. The
city lies like an enclosure between Egypt and the Great Sea,
without a [natural] haven, difficult to approach from without.
Its port is more difficult than others, in form like the human
body, more capacious at the head and the roads, but narrower
in the straits, in which it receives the movements of the sea
and ships, by which some aids to breathing are given to the
port When one has escaped the narrows and mouths of
the port, a stretch of sea is spread out before one, far and
wide, like the form of the rest of the body. On the right
side of the port there is a small island, on which is a very
high tower, which the Greeks and the Latins have in
imon called, from its use, Pharus,* because it is seen by
Nahum iii. 8, of No. (See former note.)
J MSS. read, 'it is surrounded by the Mareotic Lake ; thus, as the
jtline,' etc 9 Perhaps * between.'
4 The long, narrow island of Pharos, stretching to the north of
Alexandria, and connected with it by the Mole (called from its length
'Heptastadium'), had at its eastern end the lighthouse from which it
took its name, which was one of the seven wonders pfcttie a,nqe^v
world. It was begun by Ptolemy Soter, and compje&li'fey hfc suck \
cessor. It consisted of several stories, and is said /^iia^^eBa^DQ
feet in height ; it was a square structure of whW/Wfble f on its top . \
fires were burned for the direction of mariners, asrjffift entrance ^<jthe
magnificent harbour, between Pharos and the headland of Lochias,
was dangerous and rocky. See Smith's Dictionaries of the Uible and
of Geography, and Kitto's Cyclopaedia, s. v. * Alexandria.'
4
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5o ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
voyagers at a great distance, in order that, before they
approach the port, they may, specially during the night,
recognise the proximity of land by the light of the flames,
that they may not be deceived by the darkness and fall
upon rocks or fail to recognise the boundaries of the
entrance. Men are accordingly employed there by whom
torches and other masses of wood which have been collected
are set on fire to serve as a guide to the land, showing the
narrow entrance of the straits, the bosom of the waves, and
the windings of the entrance, lest the slender keel should
graze the rocks and in the very entrance strike upon the
rocks that are hidden by the waves. Accordingly a ship
ought to be somewhat deflected from the straight course, to
prevent its running into danger from striking on hidden
stones. For the approach in the port is narrower on the
right side, but the port is wider on the left Round the
island also, beams of immense size have been regularly laid
down, to prevent the foundations of the island from yielding
to the constant collision of the rising sea, and being loosened
by the injury. So that the middle channel, among rugged
rocks and broken masses of earth, is beyond doubt always
unquiet, and it is dangerous for ships to enter through the
roughness of the passage.
The port extends in size over thirty furlongs, and u
quite safe even in the greatest storms, as the abo\
mentioned straits and the obstacle of the island repel tL
waves of the sea, the bosom of the port being so defende*
by them as to be removed from the reach of tempests and
at peace from breakers by which the entrance is made rough.
Nor are the safety and the size of the port undeservedly
so great, since there must be borne into it whatever is need-
ful for the use of the whole city. 1 For the needs of the
innumerable population of those districts give rise to much
*' World,' V.
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN.
51
commerce for the use of the whole city, and the district is
very fruitful, and, besides abounding in all other gifts and
trades of the earth, it supplies corn for the whole world, and
other necessary merchandise. The region is beyond doubt
wanting in rain, but the irrigation of the Nile supplies
spontaneous showers, so that the fields are tempered at
once by the rain of heaven and by the fruitfulness of the
earth ; and the situation is thus convenient both for sailors
and for husbandmen. These sail, those sow ; these are borne
round on their voyages, those till the land, sowing without
need of ploughing, travelling without waggons. You see
a country intersected by watercourses, and houses through-
out the land raised as it were upon walls, on the banks of
the navigable rivers, standing on the edge of each bank of
the river Nile. The river is navigable, they say, up to the
city of Elephanti ; a ship is prevented from proceeding
further by the cataracts, that is,* flowing hills of water, not
from want of depth, but from the fall of the whole river and
the downward rush of the waters.
The narrative of the sainted Arculf about the situation
of Alexandria and the Nile is proved not to differ from
what we have learned from our reading in the books of
others. We have, indeed, abbreviated some excerpts from
these writings and inserted them in this description, as to
e havenlessness of this city or the difficulty of its haven,
. to the island and the tower built on it, as to the terminal
osition of Alexandria between the sea and the mouths of
he river Nile, etc. Hence it happens beyond doubt that
the site of the city, which is as it were choked between
these two limits, extends from west to east very far along a
arrow stretch of ground, as the narrative of Arculf shows ; x
2 relates that he began to enter the city at the third hour
1 Alexandria is stated by Pliny to be four miles in length, nearly a
ile in breadth, and fifteen miles in circumference.
4—2
52
ARCULF' S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
.of the day in the month of October, and on account of the
length of the city could hardly reach the other end of its
length before evening. It is surrounded by a long circuit
of walls, fortified by frequent towers, constructed along the
margin of the river and the curving shore of the sea.
Further, as one coming from Egypt enters the city of
Alexandria, one meets on the north 1 side a large church, in
which Mark the Evangelist is buried; his sepulchre is
shown before the altar in the eastern end of this four-sided
church, and a monument of him has been built above it
of marble.
So much, then, about Alexandria, which, as we have said
above, was called No before it was so much enlarged by
Alexander the Great, and which, as we further said above,
adjoins what is called the Canopean mouth of the river
Nile, separating Asia from Egypt and also Lybia. On
account of the inundation of Egypt by the river Nile, they
construct raised mounds along its banks, which, if they
should be broken by the negligence of the watchmen or by
too great an irruption of water, by no means irrigate the
flooded fields, but spoil them and lay them waste. On this
account a considerable number of the inhabitants of the
plains of Egypt, according to the narrative of the sainted
Arculf, who often sailed over that river in Egypt, live above
the water in houses supported on transverse beams.
Arculf relates that crocodiles live in the river Nile, quai
rupeds of no great size, very voracious, and so strong tha
one of them, if it can find a horse or an ass or an ox eating
grass on the river bank, suddenly rushes out and attacks'
it, or even seizing one foot of the animal with its jaws-
drags it under the water, and completely devours the entir
animal •
*SomeMSS add, 1 near at hand. 1
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 53
BOOK III.
I. — The City of Constantinople.
ARCULF, who has been mentioned so often, on his return
from Alexandria, stayed for some days in the island of
Crete, and sailed thence to Constantinople, where he spent
some months. This city is, beyond doubt, the metropolis
of the Roman Empire. It is surrounded by the waves of
the sea except on the north ; the sea breaking out from the
Great Sea for forty miles, 1 while from the wall of Constan-
tinople it still further stretches sixty miles 2 up to the mouths
of the river Danube. This imperial city is surrounded by
no small circuit of walls, twelve miles in length ; 8 it is a
promontory by the sea-side, having, like Alexandria or
Carthage, walls built along the sea coast, additionally
strengthened by frequent towers, after the fashion of Tyre ;
within the city walls it has numerous houses, very many of
which are of marvellous size; these, are of stone, and are
iilt after the fashion of the dwelling-houses of Rome.
II.— The Foundation of that City.
As to its foundation the citizens relate this tradition,
which they haye received from their ancestors : The
Emperor Constantine, having gathered together an infinite
1 Others, 1 sixty/ * Others, 4 forty.'
9 The walls built by the younger Tbeodosius to surround the capital
and its suburbs made the circumference of the city between ten and
eleven English miles.
54 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
multitude of men, and collected from all sides infinite
supplies, so that all other cities were almost stripped bare,
began to build a city to bear his name on the Asian side —
that is, in Cilicia, across the sea which, in these districts,
separates Asia from Europe. But one night, while the in-
numerable forces of workmen were sleeping in their tents
over the vast length of the camp, all the different kinds
of tools used by the artificers of the different works were
suddenly removed, no one knew how. With dawn, many
of the workmen, troubled and downcast, brought before the
Emperor Constantine himself a complaint as to the sudden
occult removal of the tools; and the King consequently
inquired of them : 1 Did you hear of other things being ab-
stracted from the camp ?' ' Nothing/ they say, ' but all the
work-tools.' Then next the King commands them : 1 Go
quickly to the sea coasts of the neighbouring districts on
both sides [of the straits] and search them carefully, and if
you chance to find your tools in any place in the country,
watch over them there meanwhile, and do not bring them
back here, but let some of you return to me, so that I may
have accurate information as to the finding of the tools.'
On hearing this, the workmen follow out the King's
directions, and going away did as he ordered, searching the
boundaries of the territories next the sea on both sides.
And behold, on the European side, across the sea, the
found the tools gathered together in a heap in one plac
between two seas. On making the discovery, some of them
are sent back to the King, and oh their arrival they
announce the finding of the tools in such a place. On
learning this, the King immediately orders trumpeters to
pass through the camp, blowing their trumpets and ordering
the force to move its camp, saying : c Let us remove from
this place to build a city on the spot divinely pointed out
to us ;' and at the same time he had ships made ready,
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 55
and crossed over with his whole force to the spot where
the tools were found, as he knew that the place thus shown
to him by their removal was that designed by God for the
purpose. 1 There he at once founded a city, which is called
Constantinople, the name being compounded of his own
name and the Greek word for city, so that the founder's
name is retained in the former part of the compound.
Let this description of the situation and the foundation
of that royal city suffice.
III.— The Church in which the Cross of the Lord
is preserved.
But we must not be silent as to that most celebrated
round church in that city, built of stone and of marvellous
size. According to the narrative of the sainted Arculf,
who visited it for no short time, it rises from the bottom of
its foundations in three walls, being built in triple form to a
great height, and it is finished in a very round simple crown-
ing vault of great beauty. This is supported on great
arches, with a wide space between each of the above-men-
tioned walls, suited and convenient either for dwelling or
for praying to God in. In the northern part of the interior
of the house is shown a very large and very beautiful ambry,
in which is kept a wooden chest, which is similarly
;overed over with wooden work : in which is shut up that
wooden Cross of Salvation on which our Saviour hung for
the salvation of the human race. This notable chest, as
the sainted Arculf relates, is raised with its treasure of such
preciousness upon a golden* altar, on three consecutive days
after the lapse of a year. This altar also is in the same
1 Constantine seems to have claimed Divine guidance in the selection
of the site of his new capital, and in fixing its boundaries ; but the
legends attached to these facts are of comparatively late origin.
* c Under a brazen, 9 Bern.
56
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
round church, being two cubits long and one broad. On
three successive days only throughout the year is the Lord's
Cross raised and placed on the altar, that is, on [the day of]
the Supper of the Lord, 1 when the Emperor and the armies
enter the church and, approaching the altar, after that
sacred chest has been opened, kiss the Cross of Salvation.
First of all the Emperor of the world kisses it with bent
face, then one going up after another in the order of rank
or age, all kiss the Cross with honour. Then on the
next day, that is, on the sixth day of the week before
Easter, the Queen, the matrons, and all the women of
the people, approach it in the above-mentioned order and
kiss it with all reverence. On the third day, that is, on [the
day of] the Paschal Sabbath, 2 the bishop and all the clergy
after him approach in order, with fear and trembling and
all honour, kissing the Cross of Victory, which is placed in
its chest. When these sacred and joyful kissings of the
Sacred Cross are finished, that venerable chest is closed,
and with its honoured treasure is borne back to its ambry.
But this also should be carefully noted that there are not
two but three short pieces of wood in the Cross, that is,
the cross-beam and the long one which is cut and divided
into two equal parts ; while from these threefold venerated
beams when the chest is opened, there arises an odour of
a wonderful fragrance, as if all sorts of flowers had beet
collected in it, wonderfully full of sweetness, satiating and
gladdening all in the open space before the inner walls of
that church, who stand still as they enter at that moment ;
for from the knots of those threefold beams a sweet-smell-
ing liquid distills, like pressed-out oil, which causes all
1 c In Coena Domini,' i.e n Maundy Thursday.
* 7>., on the Saturday before Easter. The practice of calling the
Lord's Day the Sabbath was unknown for nearly a thousand years
after this date.
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY AD AMNAN. 57
men of whatever race, who have assembled and enter the
church, to perceive the above-mentioned fragrance of so
great sweetness. This liquid is such that if even a little
drop of it be laid on the sick, they easily recover their
health, whatever be the trouble or disease they have been
afflicted with.
But as to these let this suffice.
Arculf, the sainted man, who gave us all these details
as to the Cross of the Lord, which he saw with his own
eyes and kissed, gave us also an account of a Confessor
named George, 1 which he learned in the city of Constanti-
nople from some well-informed citizens, who were accus-
tomed to narrate it in this form :
In a house in the city of Diospolis there stands the
marble column of George the Confessor, to which, during
1 This chapter has a special historical interest, as the earliest account
of St. George known to have been circulated in Britain ; and it is
worthy of notice that it was in the northern part of England, where
this narrative is known to have obtained special favour, that we first
find St. George holding any special position (a place being assigned
to him in the Anglo-Saxon ritual of Durham, which is probably of the
early part of the ninth century, and a ( Passion of St. George' having
been written by iElfric, Archbishop of York, A.D. 1020- 105 1). While
here has been much controversy as to whether there ever was an
nistorical person corresponding to the legendary saint, and, if there
was, as to which of the countless Georges he was, it may probably be
now accepted that there really was a George, prior in time to the
Arian intruding Bishop of Alexandria, known as George of Cappadocia
(whom Gibbon identified with the George in question), and that he was
connected in some way with Diospolis or Lydda. For a list of the
authorities to be consulted, as well as for a statement of the facts, see
an article by the Rev. G. T. Stokes, on 'Georgius-Martyr' in Smith's
Diet of Christian Biog., vol. ii., pp. 645-648, and specially the wise
remarks of Professor Bright in closing a previous article on ' Georgius
of Cappadocia,' p. 640.
IV. — St. George the Confessor.
5«
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
a time of persecution, he was bound while he was scourged,
and on which his likeness is impressed ; he was, however,
loosed from his chains and lived for many years after the
scourging. It happened one day that a hard-hearted and un-
believing fellow, mounted on horseback, having entered that
house and seen the marble column, asked those who were
there, 'Whose is this likeness engraved on the marble column?*
They reply, 'This is the likeness of George the Confessor,
who was bound to this column and scourged.' On hearing
this, that most rough fellow, greatly enraged at the insensible
object, and instigated by the devil, struck with his lance
at the likeness of the sainted Confessor. The lance of that
assailant penetrating the mass in a marvellous manner, as
if it were a ball of snow, perforated the exterior of that
stone column, and its iron point sticking fast was retained
in the interior and could not be drawn out by any means.
Its shaft, however, striking the marble likeness of the
sainted Confessor, was broken on the outside. The horse
also of that wretched fellow, on which he was mounted, fell
dead under him at that moment on the pavement of the
house. The wretched man himself too, falling to the
ground at the same time, put out his hands to the marble
column, and his fingers, entering it as if it were flour or
clay, stuck fast impressed in that column. On seeing this,
the miserable man, who could not draw back the ten
fingers of his two hands, as they stuck fast together in the
marble likeness of the sainted Confessor, invokes in peni-
tence the name of the Eternal God and of His Confessor,
and prays with tears" to be released from that bond. The
merciful God, who does not wish the death of a sinner
but that he may be converted and live, accepted his tearful
penitence, and not only released him from that present
visible bond of marble, but also mercifully set him free
from the invisible bonds of sin, saved by faith.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN. 59
Hence it is clearly shown in what honour George has
been held with God, whom he confessed amid tortures,
since his bust, which, in the course of nature, is im-
penetrable, was made penetrable by penitence, 1 which also
made the equally impenetrating lance of his adversary
penetrating, and made the weak fingers of that fellow,
which in the same course of nature were- impenetrating,
powerfully penetrating, which at first were so fastened in
the marble that even that hard man could not draw them
back, but which, when in the same moment he was so
terrified and thus softened into penitence, he drew back by
the pity of God. Marvellous to say, the marks of his
twice five fingers appear down to the present day inserted
up to the roots in the marble column ; and the sainted
Arculf inserted in their place his own ten fingers, which
similarly entered up to the roots. Further, the blood of that
fellow's horse, the haunch of which, as it fell dead on the
pavement, was broken in two, cannot be washed out or
removed by any means, but that horse's blood remains in-
delible on the pavement of the house down to our times.
The sainted Arculf told us another narrative- as to which
there is no doubt, about the same George tht Confessor,
which he had learned from some eye-witnesses of sufficient
trustworthiness, in the above-mentioned city of Constanti-
nople, who were in the habit of telling incidents connected
w ; th that sainted Confessor : A layman, entering the city of
Diospolis on horseback at a time when many thousands
were gathering there from all sides for an expedition, came
to that house, in which is the above-mentioned marble
column with the impression of the sainted Confessor
George imprinted on its front, and entering it, began to say
to the likeness as if he were speaking in the presence
of George himself : ' To thee, George the Confessor, I
1 Others read 1 power.'
6o ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
commend myself and my horse, in order that we may both
be preserved by the virtue of thy prayers from all dangers
of war and disease and water, and may return in safety
to this city after the close of the expedition; and if a
merciful God will grant thee our prosperous return, in
accordance with the offering of our poverty, I will offer in
return to thee this my horse which I greatly love, and will
make it over to thee in the sight of thy likeness.' Speedily
finishing these few words, the fellow left the house and,
with his comrades, joined the multitude of the army
and entered on the expedition. Afte;r many varied
dangers of war and among many thousands of wretched
fellows who were scattered and perished, he returns
in safety to Diospolis, by the favour of God to George
the Christ-worshipper, mounted on the same beloved
horse, having purchased deliverance from all grievous
misfortunes by that committal, and he joyfully enters
that house in which was preserved the likeness of that
sainted Confessor^ bringing with him gold to the value of
his horse, and addresses the sainted George as if he were
present : * Sainted Confessor, I give thanks to Eternal God
who has brought me back in safety 1 through thy exalted
constancy and prayer. Wherefore I bring to thee twenty
solidi 2 of gold, the price of my horse which I at the first
committed to thee and which thou hast preserved down to
the present day.' Saying this, he lays down the above-
described weight of gold at the feet of. the sainted likeness
of the Confessor, loving his horse more than the gold, and
then leaving the house, after kneeling down, mounting his
beast he urges it to go forward, but it could not be moved
1 V. reads, * through so many and so great dangers by the power
of thy prayer.'
* The solidus or aureus, from the time of Constantine the Great,
weighed lb. (Smith's Diet of Antiq., s. v. Aurum).
at all.
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HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN. 61
Seeing this, the fellow dismounts and re-enters the
house and brings another ten solidi, saying: 'Sainted
Confessor, a gentle guardian hast thou been for me to my
horse, among the dangers in the expedition, but I see thou
art hard and greedy in the sale of the horse/ Saying this,
he lays the ten solidi above the twenty, saying to the
sainted Confessor : 1 These also I give thee in addition, so
that thou mayest be appeased and release my horse for the
journey.' With these words he returns, and again mount-
ing his horse, urges it forward, but it remained standing as
if fixed in the spot, nor could it move even one foot. What
more ? After mounting and dismounting four several times,
entering the house with ten solidi and returning to his im-
movable horse, he kept running hither and thither ; but by
all his urging he could not move his horse, until a mass of
sixty solidi was gathered there. Then at length he repeats
the above-mentioned speech about the gentle humanity of
the sainted Confessor and the safe guardianship in the
expedition, and he also mentions in similar terms the hard-
ness and even the greediness in the sale, as is said, and
after four several times returning to the house he at last
addressed the sainted George in this manner: 'Sainted
Confessor, now I see clearly what thy will is. All this
weight of gold, the whole sixty solidi, which thou desirest,
I offer to thee as a gift, and also my horse itself which I
promised to make over to thee before, on account of the ex-
pedition ; now I make it over to thee, although bound with
invisible bonds, which will however, as I believe, be soon
released through the honour thou hast with God.' Having
finished this speech, he goes out from the house and finds
the horse released on that very moment, and he brings it
with him into the house and makes it over to the sainted
Confessor in the sight of that likeness, and departs joyfully
praising Christ
62
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
Hence it is plainly gathered that whatever is consecrated
to the Lord, whether it be man or animal, according to
what is written in the book of Leviticus, cannot be re-
deemed or changed in any way : for if 1 any one shall change
it, both that which was changed, and that for which it was
changed, shall be consecrated to the Lord/ 1 and it shall
not be redeemed.
Arculf, who has been so often mentioned, gave us an ac-
curate account, obtained from some well-informed witnesses
in the city of Constantinople, as to the bust of the holy
mother of the Lord : In that metropolitan city there used
to hang on the wall of a house a picture of Blessed Mary,
depicted on a small wooden tablet, as to which a certain
stolid and hard-hearted man, on inquiring whose the picture
was, learned from one who answered him, that it was the
likeness of Saint Mary, ever virgin. That unbelieving Jew,
hearing this, at the instigation of the devil, took that picture
in great wrath from the wall, and rushed to a neighbouring
privy ; and there, to dishonour Christ, born of Mary, he cast
the picture of His mother through a hole upon the filth that
lay below, and having dishonoured it by every means in
his power, he departed. 2 Now what he did afterwards, or
how he lived, or of what sort the end of his life was, is
not known. But, after the wretch's departure, another
fortunate man of the common people, a Christian,, who was
very zealous in religious matters, coming in and knowing
what had happened, searched for the image of Saint Mary,
and rescued it from the human filth amidst which he found
it, and washed it clean with the purest water, and taking it
1 Lev. xxvii. io, 33.
* The original cannot be literally translated in this sentence.
V.— The Picture of St. Mary.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAM NAN. 63
home with him, treated it with great honour. Marvellous
to say, there always distils from the wood of that picture of
Blessed Mary a true boiling oil, which, as Arculf used to say,
he saw with his own eyes. This marvellous oil proves the
honour of Mary the mother of Jesus, of whom the Father
says, 1 In My holy oil, have I anointed Him/ 1 The same
Psalmist says to the Son of God Himself, c The Lord Thy
God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above
Thy fellows.' 2
This narrative, which we have written about the situation
and the foundation of Constantinople, and also about that
round church in which the wood of salvation is preserved,
etc., we learned carefully from the mouth of the saintep
priest, Arculf; who remained in that city, by far the
greatest of the Roman Empire, from the Paschal feast to that
of the Lord's birth. Afterwards he sailed thence to Rome.
There is an island in the Great Sea towards the east,
twelve 3 miles from Sicily, in which is Mount Vulcan* which
sounds so loudly, like thunder, all day and night, that the
ground of Sicily, though so far away, is thought to be shaken
by the terrific tremor, but it seems to sound more loudly on
the sixth day of the week, and the Sabbath ; it appears
always to burn by night, and to smoke by day. This
Arculf told me about that mountain as I was writing ; he
saw it with his own eyes, burning by night, but smoking by
day; its thunder-like sound he heard with his own ears,
while he was staying in Sicily for some days.
1 Psalm lxxxtx. 20. * Psalm xlv. 7. * 1 Fourteen,' G.
4 The island of Volcano, the ancient Hiera, also known as Vulcani
Insula^ from its volcanic phenomena, is the southernmost of the Li pari
Islands — the old AoXix, or Vulcanise, Insula;, to the north of Sicily.
It is twelve geographical miles from Sicily. See Smith's Dictionary
of Greek and Roman Geography, s. v. jEolise Insulae.
VI.— Mount Vulcan.
64 ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE HOLY PLACES.
VII.— Epilogue.
Therefore I beseech those who shall read these short
books, to pray for the divine clemency, on behalf of the
sainted priest Arculf, who most willingly dictated to us
these facts of his experience of the holy places which he
visited, which I have, in however unworthy words, de-
scribed, although placed in the midst of laborious and
nearly insupportable ecclesiastical cares, which come upon
me the whole day from all sides. Therefore I charge the
reader of these experiences that he neglect not to pray to
Christ, the Judge of the ages, for me, a miserable sinner, the
writer of them.
A LITTLE BOOK CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES,
WHICH BEDE COMPOSED BY ABBREVIATING THE
WORKS OF FORMER WRITERS.
I HAVE BRIEFLY DESCRIBED BOTH THE BOUNDS AND THE SITES OF
THE PLACES, WHICH THE SACRED PAGE MAKES MORE MEMORABLE,
I, BEDE, FOLLOWING THE GUIDANCE OF LATER AS WELL AS OF
OLDER WRITERS, EXAMINING WHAT THE CHART OF THE MASTERS
TELLS.
GRANT, JESUS, THAT WE MAY EVER TEND TO THAT FATHERLAND,
WHICH THY PERFECT VISION BLESSES FOR EVERMORE.
5
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THE VENERABLE BEDE CONCERNING
THE HOLY PLACES.
Note. — The references in the margin are to the corresponding
passages in Arculfs Narrative,
The situation of the city of Jerusalem, which- is Arcuif, P .a.
almost circular in form, rises with a circuit of walls of no
small extent, within which it has also embraced Mount
Sion, which was once reckoned only in its vicinity, over-
hanging the city in the south like a citadel, the larger part
of the city lying under the mountain, upon the level
summit of a lower hill. After the Passion of the Lord, it
was destroyed by the Emperor Titus, but it was restored
and greatly enlarged by iElius Hadrian, after whom it is
also now called ALUs.. Whence it happens that, while the
Lord suffered and was buried beyond the gates of the city,
the sites of His Passion and Resurrection are now seen
within the walls. In the great circuit of the walls there are
shown eighty-four towers, and six gates : first, the Gate of
David, to the west of Mount Sion ; second, the Gate of the
Valley of the Fuller ; third, the Gate of St. Stephen ; fourth,
the Gate of Benjamin ; fifth, a portlet — that is, a p. *
little gate — by which is the descent by steps to the Valley
of Josaphat ; sixth, the Gate Thecuitis. 1 There are, how-
ever, three of these gates that are more frequently used :
I.— The Situation of Jerusalem.
1 Or 'of the Tekoiles,' s<* Arculf, p. 2, note i, vi.
5—2
68
THE VENERABLE BEDE
one on the west, another on the north, a third on the east,
while on the south the northern brow of Mount Sion over-
hangs the city, and the part of the walls with its interposed
towers is proved to have no gates, that is, from the above-
named Gate of David as far as that face of Mount Sion which
looks eastward, where the rock is precipitous. The situa-
\h 4. tion of the city itself, beginning from the northern
brow of Mount Sion, is so disposed on a slight declivity
sloping to the lower ground of the northern and eastern
walls, that rain falling there does not settle, but rushes down
like rivers through the eastern gates, carrying with it all
the filth of the streets, till it joins the torrent of Cedron in
the Valley of Josaphat.
II.— The Church of Constantine and of Golgotha,
the Church of the Resurrection and the
Sepulchre of the Lord, the Stone that was
rolled to the Mouth of the Tomb, the Church
of St. Mary, the Cup of the Lord and the
Sponge, the Altar of Abraham, the Soldier's
Spear.
p-xo. Such, then, as have entered the city from the
north to survey the holy places, must first, in accordance
with the arrangements of the streets, turn to the Church
of Constantine, which is called the Marty rium. This was
built in a magnificent and royal manner by the Emperor
Constantine, because on that spot the Cross of our Lord
was found by Helena, his mother. To the west of this
is seen the Church of Golgotha, in which also the rock
appears which once bore the very Cross to which the body
of the Lord was nailed, now bearing a silver cross of
great size, above which hangs a great circular chandelier of
brass with lamps. Below the site of the Cross of the Lord
is a crypt cut out in the rock, in which sacrifice is wont to
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES.
69
be offered upon an altar for honoured dead persons, whose
bodies meanwhile are placed in the court. To the west
of this church again, is the round church of pp 5.*-
the Mwuttoo-49, that is, of the Resurrection of the Lord,
surrounded with three walls, supported on twelve columns,
having a broad pathway left between each wall and the
next, containing three altars in three spaces in the middle
wall, that is, to the south, the north, and the west. It
has twice four gates, that is entrances, running in a straight
line through the three walls, four of them looking to the
north-east, 1 and four to the south-east In the middle of this
is the Tomb of the Lord, cut out in the rock, of round form,
of such height that a man standing within it can touch the
top with his hand, with an entrance on the east at which
that great stone was placed ; the interior still shows the
marks of the iron tools. On the outside it is completely
covered with marble up to the highest point of the roof, while
the very highest point, which is adorned with gold, bears a
golden cross of large size. In the northern part of p. *.
this Tomb is the Sepulchre of the Lord, cut out in the same
rock, seven feet in length, raised three palms above the
pavement, having an entrance on the southern side : twelve
lamps bum here day and night, four below 2 the Sepulchre,
eight above on the right side. The stone which was pp. 8, *
placed at the mouth of the Tomb has been broken in two, the
smaller part standing as a square altar before the mouth of
the Tomb, while the larger part stands in the eastern side
of the church under the linen cloths, also forming a four-
sided altar. The colour of the Tomb and of the Sepulchre
is white mixed with red.
The four-sided Church of the Mother of God also p- 9-
adjoins this church on its right side. In the court p- «• «.
which joins the Marty rium and Golgotha is a recess (exedra),
1 See page 6, note 1. * Others, 1 within.*
70
THE VENERABLE BEDE
in which the Cup of the Lord is kept in a shrine, and may
be touched and kissed through an opening in the cover. It
is a silver cup, with a handle on each side, holding a French
quart; 1 in it is the Sponge, which afforded drink to the
p. ii. Lord. Also on the spot where Abraham built an
Altar to sacrifice his son, is a wooden table of some size, on
which the alms of the poor are laid by the people. The
p. xa. soldier's spear is inserted in a wooden cross in the
portico of the Martyrium, its shaft having been broken in
two ; it is held in reverence by the whole city.
I have caused each of these I have spoken of to be
depicted in a drawing, so that you may more clearly realize
the description. 2
III.— The Temple, the Oratory of the Saracens,
the Pool of Bethesda, the Fountain of Siloa, /
the Church built upon Mount Sion, the Place
of the Stoning of St. Stephen, the Middle of
the World.
All these sacred places we have mentioned lie beyond
Mount Sion, whence a swelling of the ground, lessening
pp. 4> s- towards the north, stretches. In the lower part of
the city, where the temple was close to the wall on the east,
and was connected with the city itself by a bridge for the
crossing of any, is now a square building, apparently capable
of holding three thousand men, which the Saracens frequent
for prayer ; it is rudely built, raised on boards and great
beams above the remains of ruins. A few cisterns for water
are to be seen there. In the neighbourhood of the temple is
the Pool of Bethsaida, 3 like a twin lake, the one being often
1 See page 1 1, note 4. * This drawingjs given in Pa.
* The questions connected with the Pool of Bethesda are discussed
at length by Sir Charles Wilson, in Appendix III. of the translation
of the Bordeaux Pilgrim, pp. 45 ff., where, however, this reference is
omitted. See also 'City of Jerusalem/ Note, pp. 65 ff.
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CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES.
7i
filled with winter showers, while the other is discoloured
with red water. From that face^of Mount Sion which looks
eastwards, where the rock is precipitous, there rushes out
within the walls and in the roots of the hill, the Fountain of
Siloa, which flows southwards with an alternating access of
waters, that is, not in a perpetual flow, but boiling up at
certain hours and days, and coming through the hollows of
the earth and the caves of hardest rock with a great noise.
In the higher part of Mount Sion, many cells of p. 20.
monks surround a large church, built, as they affirm, by the
Apostles on the spot where they received the Holy Spirit,
. and where St Mary died ; this is also the venerable site
of the Supper of the Lord. There is also, standing in the
middle of the church, a marble column, to which the Lord
was bound when He was scourged. The form of this church
is said to be as is drawn below. 1
There is shown a rock, above which the sainted p. *>.
proto-martyr Stephen was stoned without the city ; while in
the middle of Jerusalem, on the spot where a dead p. x6, 17.
man came to life again when the Cross of the Lord was
placed on him, stands a lofty column, which throws no
shadow at the summer solstice, whence it is thought that
this is the middle of the earth, as is said in history ; ■ But
God, our King, before the ages has wrought salvation in
the midst of the earth.' Influenced by this opinion, Vic-
torinus also, one of the chief men of the Church of Pettau,*
writing about Golgotha, begins thus :
1 There is a spot we hold the midst of all the world ;
In their own tongue the Jews call it Golgotha.'
1 M.j Pc, give a drawing of the church.
•This is the only authority for attributing these, or any other,
extant verses to St. Victorinus, Bishop of Pattau, in Upper Pannonia,
martyred under Diocletian (?). See Smith's c Diet, of Christian Biog.,'
iv., p. 1 128.
72
THE VENERABLE BEDE
IV.— The Napkin of the Head of the Lord, and
ANOTHER LARGER LlNEN CLOTH WOVEN BY ST. MARY.
pp. xa-xs. After the Resurrection of the Lord, the napkin
that had been about His head was stolen by a Jew, who
soon after became a true Christian and retained k by him till
his death, and who meanwhile became rich. When dying,
pp. xi, 12, X3- he asks his sons, which of them wished to receive
the napkin of the Lord, which to possess the rest of his
father's wealth. The elder chose the earthly treasure, the
younger the napkin. And straightway the former decreases
until the elder son comes to poverty ; while with faith his
brother's wealth increases, and his faithful descendants
therefore retained it even to the fifth generation. After-
wards it came into the possession of impious persons, whose
wealth it so greatly increased that it occasioned great
quarrels for a long time; the Christian Jews claiming to
be the heirs of Christ, while unbelieving Jews claimed to
be the heirs of their fathers ; until, after long contention,
Mauvias, 1 the King of the Saracens in bur own time, was
called on to act as judge. Lighting a great fire, he prays
to Christ to judge who was worthy to possess this napkin
which He had deigned to wear about His head for their
salvation. He then cast it into the fire, when it was
snatched suddenly and flew upwards, and remained for
a very long time at a great height, flying in the air as if at
play, and at last, while all were gazing on it from both
sides, it descended lightly and deposited itself in the bosom
of one of the Christians, being saluted and kissed immedi-
ately by the whole people with the greatest reverence. It
p. x«. is eight feet in length. Another linen cloth of
1 In other MSS., 1 Majuuias,' * Mauuras,' 1 Moawieh.' See p. 14,
note 1.
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES.
73
much larger size, is venerated in the church, which is said
to have been woven by St Mary, having the likenesses of
the twelve Apostles and of the Lord Himself, one side
being red and the other green.
V.— The Places round Jerusalem, the Valley of
Josaphat, his Sepulchre and those of others,
the Church in which St. Mary was buried.
Round Jerusalem the ground is rough and p.«.
mountainous. Hence to the north, as far as Arimathia, the
ground is rocky and rough, though not quite continuously,
while thorny valleys lie towards the Tanitic region ; while
towards Cesarea of Palestine from jElia, although some
narrow, small, rough spots are found, yet, for the most
part, the ground is a level plain, with olive groves scattered
over it These places are seventy-five miles distant from
each other, while the length of the Land of Promise from
Dan to Bersabee extends over 160 miles, from Joppa to
Bethlehem being forty-six miles.
Next the wall of the Temple or of Jerusalem on p. ».
the east is Gehennon, or the Valley of Josaphat, stretching
from north to south, through which the torrent of Cedron runs,
at least when it receives water from the rains. This valley
is a small plain, watered, and wooded, and full of delights,
and once had in it a grove 1 sacred to Baal. In this p. is.
is the Tower of King Josaphat, containing his sepulchre ; on
its right hand is a separate building hewn out of the rock of
Mount Olivet, containing two rock-hewn sepulchres, being
those of the aged Simeon and of Joseph, the spouse of St.
Mary. In this same valley is the round Church of p. 17.
St. Mary, divided in two by a stone vaulting, having four
altars in the upper part, and in the lower portion one altar to
1 Others, ' and spot.*
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74
THE VENERABLE BEDE
the east, and on its right hand an empty tomb, in which St.
Mary is said to have rested for some time ; but by whom,
and when, the body was taken away is unknown. Those
who enter this see on the right, inserted in the wall, the
rock on which the Lord prayed on the night in which He
was betrayed, the marks of His knees being impressed as if
in soft wax.
VI. — The place where Judas was hanged, and
ACHELDEMAC.
p. X9 . Those going out by the Gate of David find a
bridge 1 stretching southwards across the valley, at the middle
of which, on the west side, Judas is said to have hanged
himself. For here stands a fig tree of great size and of
very great age, alluding to which Juvencus says :
* From fig- tree top he snatched a shapeless death/
p. ax. Further on is Acheldemac, on the south of Mount
Sion, where strangers 2 and other persons of no note are still
buried, while others putrefy there unburied.
VII. — The Mount of Olivet, and the Church
built there, where the lord ascended into
the Heavens— the Tomb of Lazarus, and a
third Church.
pp. 21, m. The Mount of Olives, which is a mile distant from
Jerusalem, is equal to Mount Sion in height, but excels it
in length and breadth. With the exception of vines and
olives, the ground is almost destitute of trees, but it is
fertile in corn and barley, and the quality of the soil is suit-
able for grass and flowers, Hot for trees. On its summit,
where the Lord ascended to heaven, is a round church
of large size, having in its circuit three vaulted porticoes
1 Others, ' fountain.' f Or 4 pilgrims' ; see p. 21, note 2,
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CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES.
75
covered over above. For the interior of the house pp. m-**
could not be vaulted over or covered, on account of the
passage (Ascension) of the Lord's body from that spot ; it
has an altar towards the east, protected by a narrow roof;
in the centre of it are seen the last footprints of the Lord,
under the open heaven, where He ascended. And although
the earth is daily carried away by the believing, they none
the less remain and still retain the same appearance of their
own, as if marked by impressed footsteps. Around these
lies a hollow brass cylinder as high as one's neck, 1 with an
entrance from the west, while a great lamp is hung above it
by pulleys, burning the whole night and day. In the western
side of that church are eight windows and the same number
of lamps hung by ropes opposite to them ; their light is shed
through the glass as far as Jerusalem, and is said to smite
the hearts of the beholders with a certain eagerness and
compunction. On the day of the Ascension of the Lord
each year, after Mass is performed, a storm of strong wind
comes down regularly and lays prostrate on the ground all
that are in the church. On that night so many lamps are
lighted there, that the mountain and the places at its foot
appear not only to be illuminated but even to be on fire.
We have thought it right to give a drawing of this church
below. 2
The Tomb of Lazarus is pointed out by a church >p. «7-
built there, and by a large monastery, in a certain plain
of Bethany, surrounded by a great wood of olives. Now
Bethany is fifteen furlongs distant from Jerusalem. There
is also a third church on the same mountain, towards the
southern side of Bethany, where the Lord spoke to His
disciples before the Passion about the Day of Judgment.
1 Others, ' head and neck,' or only 1 head.'
9 The drawing is wanting in almost all MSS*
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THE VENERABLE BEDE
VIII.— The Situation of Bethlehem, the Church'
upon the Place where the Lord was born, the
Sepulchres of David and Hieronymus and the
Three Shepherds, and also that of Rachel.
pp. »8, 99- Bethlehem, which lies six miles 1 southwards from
Jerusalem, is situated on a narrow ridge, which is surrounded
on all sides by valleys, and is a mile long from west to east,
a low wall without towers being built right round the level
summit In the eastern corner of this is a sort of natural
half cave, the exterior of which is said to have been the
place of the Nativity of the Lord, while the interior is called
the Manger of the Lord. This cave, the interior of which
is wholly covered over with precious marble, has, above the
exact spot where the Lord is said to have been born, the
p. a* large Church of St. Mary. A rock, hollowed out
close to the wall, still preserves the water in which the Body
of the Lord was first washed, which it caught as. it was
thrown from the wall ; and this water, if it should be
exhausted either by accident or intentionally, is always
restored to its full extent even while you look at it.
p. a* To the north of Bethlehem, in the neighbouring
valley, the Sepulchre of David is covered over in the middle
of a church by a low stone, with a lamp placed above it ;
while to the south, in a neighbouring valley, there is in a
church the Sepulchre of St. Hieronymus. In this I have
followed the account given by Arculf, a Bishop of the
Gauls. But Esdras writes clearly, that David was buried
in Jerusalem.
p. 3i. Farther to the east in the Tower of Ader, that
is, of the flock, a mile from the city, is a church containing
the tombs of the shepherds who were informed of the
Nativity of <the Lord. A royal road leads from jElia to
1 The real distance is five English miles.
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CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES.
77
Chebron, leaving Bethlehem to the east, and to the west
the Sepulchre of Rachel, still signed with the inscription
of her name.
IX.— The Situation of Hebron, Mambre, and the
Tomb of the Patriarchs and of Adam, the
Pine Wood.
Hebron is situated along a plain, twenty-two pp. 33.
miles from jElia. A furlong to the east, it has a double
cave in a valley, where the Sepulchres of the Patriarchs are
surrounded by a rectangular wall, their heads turned to the
north, each of them covered with one stone hewn like a
Basilica, the stone being white in the case of the Patriarchs,
darker and of commoner workmanship in Adam's, who lies
not far from them towards the north end of that wall.
Poorer and smaller monuments of their three wives are also
seen. The hill of Mambre, a mile to the north of p. 33.
these tombs, is very grassy and flowery, having a level plain
at the summit, in the northern part of which is the oak of
Abraham, surrounded by a church, its trunk being the height
of two men. Those coming from Hebron north- p. 3*
wards, have on their left hand a mountain of small extent
covered with pines, three miles from Hebron, whence pine
wood is carried to Jerusalem on camels ; for in all Judea
carts or waggons are rare.
X— Jericho and its Holy Places, Galgal and the
Fountain of Heliseus, the Great Plain.
Jericho is nineteen 1 miles to the east of iElia, and p. 35.
as it has been levelled to the ground three times, only the
house of Raab remains, as a sign of her faith ; for its walls
are still standing, though without a roof. The site of the
city produces corn and vines. Between it and the Jordan,
1 a, /V., have 4 14*000 feet Pa., 1 18 miles.'
78
THE VENERABLE BEDS
which is five or six miles from it, there are great palm
groves, with open spaces left, which are inhabited by
p. 36. Chananeans. The twelve stones which Josua ordered
to be taken from the Jordan lie in a church at Galgal built
just within the walls ; they are so large that one of them can
now scarcely be lifted by two men ; while one of them has
been broken by some unknown accident, but has been joined
together again by an iron band. Close to Jericho is a copious
fountain of drinking-water, good for irrigating purposes,
which was once sterile and unhealthy for drinking, but was
healed by Heliseus the prophet, when he cast salt into it It
is surrounded by a plain seventy furlongs in length, and
twenty in breadth, in which are marvellously fair gardens,
with many varieties of palms 1 and most excellent breeds
of bees. There the opobalsamum is produced, which we
name thus with an affix because the husbandmen, with
sharp stones, cut slender channels through the bark, in
which the balsam is generated, so that the sap, after
distilling slowly through those caverns, collects in beauti-
fully bedewed tears ; and a cavern is called in Greek oinj,
Ope. Here, they say, the Cyprus and the myrobalanus*
"Apple*'/*.
* It is impossible to identify exactly the trees referred to. (1) The
name Opobalsamum, given to the sap extracted from the Balsam tree,
is not derived from Mi, a hole, but from Mg, the milky juice
flowing from a plant, either naturally or by incision. The Hebrew
word for the balsam, tsdri, is derived from the root, meaning *fissurej
referring to the practice of drawing it from the tree in this way. But
it is much disputed what is the real Balsam tree, and whether the tree
from which the Balm of Gilead was obtained was also the Balsam
tree of Jericho. (2) The Cyprus tree (the camphire of Cant. i. 14,
iv. 13) probably derives its name from the Hebrew Kaphar, to cover
ox paint. It is the Arabic Henna, a red stain much used for the nails
being made from its dry leaves. It is the Lawsonia Inermis. . (3) The
Myrobalanus is variously identified. Either it or the Balsam tree
may be the Zackum tree, variously named Elaagnus angustifolia and
Balanites /Egyptiaca, the oil obtained from which is highly esteemed
Digitized by Google
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES.
79
grow. The water, as in some other fountains, but here
more especially, is cold in summer, tepid in winter ; the air
is milder, so that in the depth of winter linen clothing is
worn. The city itself is built in a plain, and is overhung
by an extensive mountain,- bare of anything fruitful : for
the soil of the country is barren, and therefore it is without
inhabitants. A wide extent of country stretches from
the district of-the city of Scythopolis to that of Sodom and
the Asphaltic region. Opposite this, a mountain extends
above the Jordan, from the city of Julias to Zoar, 1 which
is conterminous with Arabia Petraea, where there is a
mountain called Ferreus. Between these two mountains
stretches a plain, which the ancients called 4 the Great/ or
in Hebrew, 4 Aulon/ 230 furlongs in length, 120 in breadth,
extending from the village of Gennabara to the Asphaltic
Lake. The Jordan intersects it, with banks verdant from
the watering of the river, the trees upon its banks being
much more fruitful than elsewhere, where they are more
barren ; for all the land beyond the bank of the river is dry.
XI. — The Jordan and the Sea of Galilee.
The Jordan is commonly supposed to rise in the pp. », 4*
province of Phenicia, at the roots of Mount Lebanon, where
Paneum, that is, Cesarea Philippi, is situated. For this reason
we learn that Paneum, that is, 4 the grotto/ through which the
Jordan flows, was constructed and adorned with admirable
beauty by King Agrippa. There is, however, in the district
of Trachonitis a fountain resembling a disc, 2 whence it has
received the name of Phiala ; it is fifteen miles from Caesarea,
by the Arabs as a cure for wounds. It grows near Jericho. This may
not improbably be the Myrobalanus, while the Balsam tree may be
the Cistus Creticus.— Abbot Daniel, p. 8, note 4.
1 See p. 39, note 1.
3 ' Rota.' ' The reference is apparently to the sun's disc, often called
rota.'-C. W. W.
8o
THE VENERABLE BEDE
and is so constantly full of water, that it never overflows and
never diminishes. Into this Philip, the tetrarch of the region,
cast straws, which the river cast up in Paneum. Whence it
follows that the source of the Jordan is in Phiala, but that
it flows through subterranean channels to Paneum, where it
begins to be visible as a river ; soon entering the lake, it
intersects its marshes ; thence it directs its course for fifteen 1
miles without receiving any addition, to the city called
Julias ; afterwards it flows through the middle of the Lake
of Genezar, whence, after passing many places, it enters the
Asphaltic, that is the Dead Sea, and there loses its famous
p. 38. waters. It is of a white colour, like milk, and on this
account is recognised for a long distance in the Dead
pp. 40. 41. Sea. Now Genezar, that is, the Sea of Galilee, is
surrounded by great woods ; it is 140 furlongs in length,
40 in breadth ; the water is sweet and good for drinking,
since it receives nothing thick with marsh mud or turbid,
because it is surrounded on all sides by a sandy shore. It
is surrounded also by agreeable towns, — on the east by
Julias and Hippo, on the west by Tiberias, which is healthy
from its hot waters ; the kinds of fish are better as regards
taste and appearance than in any other lake.
XII.— The Dead Sea, and its Nature, and that of
the Neighbouring District.
p. 39- The Dead Sea extends 580* furlongs in length to
Zoar of Arabia, 150 in breadth to the neighbourhood of
Sodom ; for it is most certain that after the burning of Sodom
and Gomorrha and the neighbouring cities, it flowed in from
what were once wells of salt It is seen also by those look-
p. 41- ing towards it from afar, from the watch-tower of
p. 3* Mount Olivet ; because the colliding movement of
the waves casts out the most salt salt, which is dried by the
1 1 Twelve,' Pc. * 4 Five hundred and eight,' Pb.
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES.
81
sun, and used by many nations. There is further said to be
salt, in a mountain of Sicily, where stones turned out of the
ground supply a true salt, most useful for all purposes, which
is known as Earth Salt. The Sea is called ■ Dead 9 because it
does not contain any kind of living creatures, whether fish
or such birds as are met with beside water, while bulls and
camels float on it. 1 Finally, if the Jordan has been swollen
by rain and has carried down fishes in its flood, they
die immediately and float above the oily waters. They say
that a lighted lamp floats above it unchanged/ and does not
sink so as to put out the light, while if a vessel has been
submerged by any device it can scarcely be caused to
remain in the depths, and all living creatures even if
submerged and vehemently beaten down, at once rise to the
surface : while finally, they say that Vespasian ordered men
who could not swim, to have their hands bound and then
to be thrown into the deep, and they floated above
it. The water is barren 8 and bitter, and darker than
other waters, and produces a sort of parched feeling. It is
certain that lumps of bitumen float in a black liquid on the
water, which they collect in boats. The bitumen is said to
adhere to them so that it cannot be cut off even by iron
tools, yielding only to menstruous blood or urine. It is
useful for caulking joints in ships and for healing the human
body. The district still retains the appearance of the
punishment (of the Cities of the Plain) ; for very beautiful
apples grow there, which excite among spectators a desire
to eat them, but when plucked, they burst and are reduced
to ashes, and give rise to smoke as if they were still burn-
ing. Also in summer an immoderate amount of vapour
1 P6. reads, ' while bitumen floats on it resembling gold and a camel
in appearance.'
* The same MS. reads, ' unchanged, so that the light can neither be
sprinkled nor be submerged, because if a vessel,' etc.
' Probably 1 unprofitable,' useless for drinking.
6
82
THE VENERABLE BEDE
steams up over the plains, while the unhealthy drought and
the dryness of the soil unite to corrupt the air and destroy
the inhabitants with deplorable diseases.
XIII. — The Place where the Lord was Baptized.
pp. 36-38. At the place where the Lord was baptized, a wooden
cross stands, as high as one's neck, which is often hidden
by the rising of the water ; the further or eastern bank is
as far distant from it as one can sling a stone, while the
nearer bank has on the top of a hill the great monastery of
the Blessed John Baptist, the church of which is celebrated,
from which people are wont to pass down to that cross
by a bridge raised on arches, and pray. At the edge
of the river is a square church built on four stone vaults,
covered over above with slacked lime, 1 where the garments
worn by the Lord when He was baptized, are said to be
preserved. This, men do not usually enter, but the 2 waves
surround and penetrate it From the point where the
Jordan issues from the ravine of the Sea of Galilee to that
where it enters the Dead Sea, is eight 8 days' journey.
XIV. — The Locusts and the Wild Honey, and the
p. 43- There seems to have been a very small kind of
locust, which John the Baptist fed upon, and which is still
found, with a thin short body like the finger of a hand, which
is easily taken in the grass, and is used for food by the
poor, when cooked in oil In the same desert there are trees
with broad round leaves of the colour of milk and the
taste of honey, which being naturally fragile, are rubbed in
the hands and eaten. This is what is called 'wild
1 See p. 38, note 1.
8 ' But on all sides they surround/ Pcj 'enter or descend thence,' 0.
• ' Fifteen/ PK
Fountain of John the Baptist.
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES.
83
honey/ In the same place the fountain of St John
Baptist is shown, the water being clear ; it is protected by
XV.— The Fountain of Jacob near Sichem.
Near the city of Sichem, which is now called pp. 41,43.
Neapolis, is a four-armed church, that is, one built in the
form of a cross, in the middle 1 of which is the Fountain of
Jacob, forty cubits in height, which the Lord honoured by
asking water from it from the woman of Samaria.
XVL— Tjberias and Capharnaum and Nazareth
and the Holy Places there.
The place where the Lord blessed the bread and p. 43-
the fish is on this side of the Sea of Galilee, to the north of
the city of Tiberias : a grassy level plain which has never
since been ploughed, and which has no buildings on it,
showing only a fountain from which they drank. Those
who come from iEIia to Capharnaum pass through p. 44.
Tiberias, and thence along the Sea of Galilee and the place
where the bread was blessed : not far from which is Caphar-
naum, on the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim, having no
wall, situated in a narrow space between the mountain and
the lake above the sea shore, extending for a long distance
eastwards, having the mountain on the north, and the lake
on the south. Nazareth has no walls, but great p. 45.
buildings and two large churches. One in the middle of the
city is founded on two vaults, where once there was the
house in which the Lord was nourished in His infancy-
This church, as has been said, is raised on two mounds, with
arches interposed, having down below among these mounds
1 Tobler omits as unintelligible * stretching from the side to the end
of the fingers.' See p. 42.
a stone covering besmeared with lime.
6—2
84
THE VENERABLE BEDE
a very clear fountain, frdm which all the citizens draw their
water in vessels by means of pulleys. There is another
church, where the house was in which the angel came to
Mary.
XVII. — Mount Tabor and the Three Churches
p. 46. Mount Tabor, in the middle of the plain of Galilee,
rises up to the north at a 1 distance of three miles from the
Sea of Genezareth ; it is completely round, very grassy and
flowery, 30 furlongs in height Its summit forms a very
pleasant level surface of 23 s furlongs, where is a large
monastery surrounded by a large wood, having three
churches, according to what Peter said, 4 Let us make here
three tabernacles.' The place is surrounded by a wall, and
has great buildings.
XVIII.— The Situation of Damascus.
p. 47. Damascus is situated in a wide plain, with an
ample circuit of walls, and is fortified by frequent towers ;
four great rivers flow through it. While the Christians
frequent the Church of St John Baptist, the king of the
Saracens with his people has built and consecrated another.
There are a very large number of olive groves round the
city outside the walls. From Tabor to Damascus is seven
days 9 journey.
XIX —The Situation of Alexandria, the Church
in which Mark the Evangelist rests, and the
pp. 4«-5». Alexandria is a long city from west to east,
surrounded on the south by the mouths of the Nile, on the
1 Several MSS. here mention the tribe of Manasseh. * 4 24/ Pb.
ON IT.
Nile.
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES.
85
north by the Egyptian Sea, 1 having a harbour more difficult
than others, in form like the human body — more capacious
at the head and the roads, but narrower in the straits, where it
receives the sea and ships in movement, by which some aids
to breathing are given to the port. When one has escaped
the narrows and the mouths of the harbour, a stretch of sea
spreads out far and wide like the rest of the human form.
On the right side of the port is a small island, on which
stands Pharus, that is, a very large tower, which burns
during the night with the flames of torches, lest sailors
should be deceived in the darkness and fall upon rocks, or
fail to recognise the boundary of the entrance, because it
is always unquiet, with waves always breaking. But the
harbour is always calm ; it is thirty furlongs in extent
Those entering the city from the Egyptian side pp. $h st-
are met on the right hand by a Church, in which rests the
blessed Evangelist Mark. His body is buried in the
eastern end of that church before the altar, a square marble
monument being placed above the spot
Around the Nile the Egyptians are in the habit p. s».
of making frequent ramparts on account of the irruption of
the waters, which, should they be broken by the careless-
ness of the guardians, instead of irrigating, ruin the under-
lying ground. And because the Egyptians inhabit the
plains, they build their houses upon the banks of the
waters, supporting them on transverse beams.
XX.— Constantinople, and the Basilica in that
City which contains the Cross of the Lord.
Constantinople is surrounded on all sides except p. 53-
the north by the Great Sea, extending sixty miles from it
to the wall of the city, and forty miles from the wall of the
city to the mouths of the Danube ; it is surrounded by
Most MSS., ' By the Mareotic Lake.'
Digitized by Google
86
THE VENERABLE BEDE
a circuit of walls twelve miles in length, with angles corre-
p.54. sponding to the sea-board. At first Constantine
had fixed to build it 1 by the sea which separates Asia from
Europe; but one night all the tools were taken away,
and they were found by . those sent to look for them, on
the European side, where the city now is ; for it was thus
understood to be God's will that it should be built there.
pp. 55-57- In this city is a church of marvellous workman-
ship, called St Sophia, constructed from the foundation on
a round plan and vaulted, surrounded by three walls, and
supported by great columns and raised on arches, the in-
terior of which has in its northern end a large and exceed-
ingly beautiful ambry, in which is a wooden chest covered
with a wooden covering, which contains three parts of the
Cross of the Lord, viz., the long beam cut into two parts
and the cross beam of that Holy Cross. This is brought
out to be adored by the people on only three days of the
year, that is, on [the day of] the Supper of the Lord, on the
Day of Preparation and on [the day of] the Holy Sabbath,*
when the first chest is laid opened on the golden altar (it is
two cubits in height and one in breadth) with the Holy
Cross. The Emperor first approaches and adores and
kisses the Holy Cross, then all ranks of the laity in order ;
on the next day the Empress and all the matrons and
virgins do the same ; while on the third day the Bishops
and all ranks of the clergy do the same; and so the
chest is again closed and carried back to the above-named
ambry. But as long as it remains open upon the altar,
a marvellous odour pervades the whole church ; for from
the knots of the holy wood there flows a sweet-smelling
liquid like oil, of which if any sick person touch a particle,
it heals all his sickness.
1 ' In Cilicia ' in some MSS. .
* That is to say, on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the
Saturday before Easter.
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES. 87
XXI. — Epilogue.
In this account of the holy places, I have, as far as I
could, followed trustworthy histories, and especially that of
Arculf, a Bishop of Gaul, which the presbyter Adamnan,
one most learned in the Scriptures, has written in three
books in the Latin language. The prelate I have men-
tioned, leaving his own country, from his desire after the
holy places, went to the land of promise, and there stayed
some months in Jerusalem, using an aged monk, Peter
by name, equally as guide and as interpreter, and visited
in his course all the places he had so vividly longed to see,
not to speak of Alexandria, Damascus, Constantinople, and
Sicily. But when he wished to revisit his native country,
the ship in which he sailed was, after many wanderings,
brought by a contrary wind to our island of Britain, and
at length after many dangers he came to the venerable
man of whom we have spoken, Adamnan, to whom he gave
an account of his journey and of what he saw, and whom
he thus taught to become the writer of a most excellent
history. From this we have culled some parts and com-
pared them with the books of the ancients, and we transmit
them to thee to read, entreating through all that thou be
careful to temper the labour of the present age, not by the
ease of a lascivious body, but by zeal in reading and in
prayer. *
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APPENDIX.
TRANSLATION OF PORTIONS OF 1 ARCULFS NARRATIVE/
FROM PROFESSOR WILLIS' 4 HOLY SEPULCHRE.'
\Williamf 4 Holy Cityi vol. h\: London, 1849.]
Of the Church of the Sepulchre of the Lord.
(Pages 5, 6 ; cap. L, last sentence, and cap. ii.)
4 CONCERNING these things we diligently interrogated the
holy Arculfus, and especially about the Sepulchre of the
Lord, and the church constructed above it, of which he
delineated the form for me upon a waxen tablet This
great church, all of stone, of wondrous rotundity on all
sides, arising from its foundation in three walls, has a broad
passage between each wall and the next. In three
ingeniously constructed places of the middle wall three
altars are disposed, one looking to the south, another to
the north, and the third towards the west ; and this round
and lofty church is sustained by twelve columns of
wondrous magnitude, and it has eight doors or entrances
formed by three walls erected in the intermediate spaces
between the passages. Of these, four are turned to the
south-east, and the other four to the north-east.' — 4 Holy
City/ ii. 259.
' In the centre of this circular church is situated a round
cabin (tegurium), cut out of a single piece of rock, within
(Pages 6-9, capp. iii., iv.)
Digitized by
APPENDIX.
89
which there is space for nine men to stand and pray. The
vaulted roof is about a foot and ahalf above the head
of a man of no short stature.' The entrance of this little
chamber is to the east. The whole of its exterior surface
is covered with choice marble, and the highest part of its
outer roof, ornamented with gold, sustains a golden cross
of no small magnitude. The Sepulchre of the Lord is in
the north part of the chamber, and is cut out of the same
rock as it, but the pavement of the chamber is lower than
the place of sepulture ; for there is an altitude of about
three paims from the pavement to the lateral edge of the
sepulchre. ... By the Sepulchre, properly so called, is
meant that place in the north part of the monumental
chamber, in which the body, wrapped in linen clothes, was
deposited, the length of which Arculfus measured with his
own hand as seven feet. Which sepulchre is not, as some
erroneously imagine, hollowed out into a double form (*>.,
in the shape of the body), having a projection left from the
solid rock, between and separating the legs and thighs, but
is simple and plain from the head to the feet, and is a
couch affording room for one man lying on his back. It is
in the manner of a cave, having its opening at the side, and
opposite the south part of the monumental chamber. The
low roof is artificially wrought above it. In this sepulchre
twelve lamps, according to the number of the twelve holy
Apostles, burn day and night continually, of which four are
placed below in the inner part of that sepulchral couch,
and the other eight above, over the margin on the right
side. . . . This chamber of the Lord's monument, not
being covered within by any ornaments, exhibits to this
day the marks of the workmen's tools by which it was
excavated. The colour of the rock of the monument and
sepulchre is not uniform, but a mixture of red and white.'
— ' Holy City,' iL 174, 175.
9o
APPENDIX.
Of the Church of St. Mary.
(Page 9, cap. v.)
1 The quadrangular church of Holy Mary, the Mother of
the Lord, is joined on the right side to that round church
described above, and which is called Anastasis, or Resur-
rection, because it is constructed on the place of the Lord's
resurrection.'
* Another church, of great magnitude, is constructed
towards the east in that place which is called Golgotha.
In its upper parts there hangs by ropes a certain brazen
"rota with lamps, beneath which a great silver cross is
infixed in the very same place where formerly the wooden
cross, on which the Saviour of mankind suffered, was fixed
and stood.
• In the same church there is a cave cut out of the rock
beneath the place of the Lord's cross, where the sacrifice
is offered upon an altar for the souls of certain honoured
persons, whose bodies, meanwhile, lying in the street, are
placed before the door of the said Golgothan Church, until
the holy mysteries for the defunct are finished.
'To this church, constructed upon a quadrangular plan in
the place of Calvary, there adjoins on the eastern side that
neighbouring stone basilica, erected with great magnificence
by the royal Constantine, called also the Martyrium, which
was located, as they say, in the place where the cross of
our Lord, with the other two crosses of the thieves, con-
Of the Church of Calvary.
(Pages 9, io, cap. vi.)
Of the Basilica of Constantine.
(Pages io, 1 1, capp. vii., viii.)
APPENDIX.
9i
cealed under the earth, was found by the gift of the Lord,
after two hundred and thirty-three years. Between these
two churches occurs that famous place where Abraham the
Patriarch erected an altar for the sacrifice of Isaac . .
where now there stands a small wooden table upon which
people offer alms for the poor. . . . Between the ' Anas-
tasis,' that is, the above-described church, and the Basilica
of Constantine is a small court, extending as far as the
Golgothan Church, in which court lamps are kept con-
stantly burning day and night.'
Of the other Exedra in the Church of Calvary.
'Between the Golgothan Church and the Martyrium
is a certain " Exedra," or apse, in which is the cup. This
Arculfus goes on to describe as the cup of the Last Supper,*
and also to state that he saw the ' sponge ' and the ' lance.'
— 1 Holy City/ ii., 259-261.
(Pages 11, 12, cap. ix.)
THE END.
BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.
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JERUSALEM:
$be City of 1>erol> ano of Salafcin.
BY
WALTER BESANT and EDWARD HENRY PALMER.
NEW EDITION.
(RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON.)
The First Edition of this Work was published in October, 1871.
For a long time it has been out of print and not to be obtained. A
New Edition has now been prepared, with certain alterations and
corrections, and with a New Preface by the survivor of the two
Authors.
The Book is a History of the City from the Siege of Titus, inclusive,
to Modern Times. It is written partly from the Works of the Cru-
sading Historians, the Travels of the Early Pilgrims, and other
authorities not often consulted; and partly from the accounts of
Mohammedan Writer's, whose works have never before been used for
the purpose. The result is a History told from a double point of
view — the Christian and the Moslem.
The following is the Table of Contents : —
Chapters I. and IL^The Siege by Titus.
Chapter III.— From Titus to Omar.— The Revolt of Barcochebas— Constan-
tine's Church of the Anastasis— Julian the Apostate— Simeon Stylites —
Chosroes the Persian.
Chapter IV.— The Mohammedan Conquest.— From Moslem Historians—
The Mosque of Omar— The Dome of the Rock — Translation of the Cufic In-
scription in the Dome — Hakem and the Drures— The Turkomans, etc.
Chapter V.— The Christian Pilgrims.— The Story of the Christian Pilgrims,
from the Second Century to the Eleventh— The Pilgrim Service— The Crowds
of Pilgrims— Willibald— The Story of Frotmond— The September Fair—
Raoul the Bald— Raymond of Plaisance— Lielbert — The Archbishop of
Mayence, etc
Chapters VI.-XV.— The Crusades and the Latin Kingdom.
Chapter XVI.— Saladin..
Chapter XVII.— The Mohammedan Pilgrims.
Chapter XVHL— The Chronicle of Six Hundred Years.— Palestine alter
the Crusades— The Crusade of Children— Frederick II.— The Invasion of the
Kharezmians — Louis IX.— The Taking of Acre— Conclusion.
This Book has been culded by the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund to
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Office, 1, Adam Street, Adelphi, tV.C. 9 forthe sum of Five Shillings and
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